I Wish Circumstances Were Different
by pyxie
Summary: Castiel wishes that circumstances were different and Chuck pays a visit. They end up three years in the past, Sam never dies, Dean never goes to hell. They retire. Or at least, they hope they could if there weren't two angels following them around Chicago. Think Cat!Cas and Wing!Kink and oh so much more. Kind of an AU Dean/Cas and Sam/Gabe (Rated M for later chapters and language)
1. Prologue

_A/N: I've been thinking about this one for quite a while. So I decided that I would actually write it. Here it is. This is the prologue. I hope it isn't too terrible._

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"Dean, I wish circumstances were different. Much of the time, I'd rather be here." Dean met the Angel's gaze and for a moment, he felt lost. He knew that they both wanted something different. That they wished that the timing had been different. Sam's soul to be back in place in a way that wouldn't shatter his brain to pieces. And that they weren't working with a freaking demon.

He would never openly admit it, but there was something within him that stirred when he was around Cas, but the circumstances. Always the damn circumstances. Another thing that Dean never mentioned aloud was how often he prayed to Cas. The only one who knew was the Angel himself.

That night was no different.

_As I lay me down to sleep, I do pray to the Angel, Castiel, to keep his lily white ass safe in the battle of Heaven._

He paused...somehow, that didn't seem very pleasant, but then again, Dean never was. He shrugged.

_Look, man, I get it. I get that you wish circumstances were different. I do too. But we're stuck in this world where everyone we love could die and has died. I just...be safe, alright, man? And help me look after my brother._

_Amen._

Dean laid back and covered himself with his jacket. He glanced over at Sam who was flipping through a book. Either it didn't happen, or Sam didn't notice, or something, but there was a flutter of wings and he glanced up. The air felt different and he had been expecting to make eye contact with Cas, not...Chuck. But there he was.

"Hello, Dean. Circumstances will be different." The writer pressed two fingers to Dean's temple before the human could say anything back and there was a bright flash of light and then darkness.

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A/N: _So what'd you think? Love it? Hate it? Write me out a review, please :3 xxPyx_


	2. Chapter 1

A/N: Yay! Chapter one! i hope you like it. It's actually a bit longer than I thought it was whilst writing it. Enjoy xxPyx

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Dean rolled out of bed, running his hand through his hair. Saturday, 8am, sunny, high of 19, low of 12. All-round a good day. He stumbled into his bathroom and straight into the shower, his pyjama joggers and hybrid-pants left discarded upon the floor. This was refreshing. This was nice. This was normal. When he finished washing up, he took a walk around his little apartment he shared with Sam, checking that all of his Devil's Traps were still in place and respraying the walls with salt water. Could never be too cautious.

Just another beautiful day in Chicago. Well, April was the only decent month in Chicago. After Dean had tried the pizza, he and Sam both decided that they would just stay there and set up base. But ever since the day that Sam killed Azazel and killed the other "Children", life was pretty simple. Every so often there was a ghost that needed to be put to rest or a demon, but they had finally settled down in Chicago and discovered that they actually kind of liked it there.

Opening up the cabinets in his kitchen, Dean was strangely disappointed. They were significantly less full than they had been the day before. Well, maybe not. But he just really wanted a cup of coffee. With a sigh, he left his apartment and walked a few blocks to a little 24 hour diner on State and Chestnut. He really missed driving his Baby...but the traffic just didn't allow it and besides, it was only a few blocks away.

"Hello. Just for one today, sir?" The hostess smiled at him as though this was one of the best days of her life. Hardly concealing her giddiness, she grabbed a menu and led him to a table. She winked and then headed off again.

Dean watched her go. She was a special little snowflake. Cute, but in a diner-girl cute way. Her apron covered up her curves though. She smiled at him in such a creepy way though. To be honest, he'd hooked up with some pretty freaky chicks in the past. Dean shook his head and flipped absent-mindedly through his menu. He knew what he was gonna get, he usually got the same thing every time.

Until creepy-diner girl got back to him with his order of pancakes and coffee, Dean eavesdropped on people's conversations. Pretty routine though. Some woman was throwing a graduation party for daughter. A couple dudes had hangovers. And then there was:

"I remember when your mother abandoned you, your father kept telling you he was drinking coffee...but you didn't know any better." Each word was spoken carefully in a deep, gravelly voice. "But you started drinking coffee, and you've been in love with it ever since."

"Uh huh...I'll be right back with you coffee." Diner girl moved passed Dean without even sparing him a look.

"Hello, Dean." The voice said. On instinct, Dean looked up. Sitting right across from him was a guy with the bluest freaking eyes. He was cradling a mug of coffee between his hands and was staring straight at him.

"Whoa, man. I don't know if anyone's ever told you this, but you don't invite yourself to someone else's table." Dean made a gesture that most people would take as 'go away', but not this guy. No, he seemed to have settled even more in his seat. "How the hell do you know my name? Who are you?"

"My name is Castiel." 'Castiel' took a sip of his coffee and moved to add some sugar to it, changed his mind, then added just cream.

Dean shifted uncomfortably. Something was severely off about this guy. "Alright. What are you? Are you stalking me?" His hand reached instinctively into his pocket for a demon-killing knife they had taken from a demon named Ruby.

"Observing carefully is too often mistaken as stalking." Castiel tilted his head to the side as he continued to gauge Dean's reactions carefully. "Your knife will not harm me; I am an Angel of the Lord."

"Bull. There's no such thing." Dean's words hardly seemed to affect Castiel, Angel of the Lord. "You're full of it."

"I am full of a lot of things, Dean Winchester. What 'it' are you referring to?" Whilst Castiel spoke, Dean looked him over. The tan trenchcoat he was wearing looked uncomfortable and disheveled. HIs tie was backwards. His hair was messy. He couldn't have possibly been an angel.

"Forget it, man. I just want to eat and live my life. Can I just have that without some weirdo interrupting my breakfast?" At Dean's words, Castiel tilted his head to the side.

"Of course you may have that. And more. You are destined for more. Both you and your brother. That's what-" Castiel stopped himself and didn't continue, choosing instead to sip more coffee. "You have no faith, Dean. And that's your problem. I'll see you again soon." And with that, he vanished, leaving Dean confused.

Even as his food was set down in front of him, Dean hardly seemed to notice. His phone rang not much longer after his food was considered too cold to eat.

"Dean. Tell me that happened to you too." Sam. He sounded desperate, confused.

"A lot of things happen to me, Sammy. You have to be a bit more specific." Even though he said that, Dean already knew what Sam was calling about.

"An angel, Dean. Some angel said that he knew us. And then..." Sam shuddered. "Did an angel kiss you too?"

"What?" That was different. "Castiel kissed you?" Dean dropped a twenty on the table and left Tempo. He wasn't hungry anymore.

"Castiel? Huh? No, Gabriel kissed me." Sam paused a moment over the phone. It sounded like he was walking pretty quickly. "LIke, a lot."

"And you just let him? Where the hell are you?" Dean was walking up to the red line, assuming that they would meet and do crazy amounts of research. Rather, Sam would do research and Dean would...well, be Dean.

"On the way to Chicago Public Library. Hurry up and get over here." With that, Sam hung up.

Dean looked at his phone in bewilderment. What the hell? No really, what the hell? He sighed and walked up the stairs to the L. One good thing about Chicago was its transit. It was expensive as hell and most of the train cars smelled like burnt ass, but it was fast. He slid his card and walked through the security and up some more stairs until he got to the platform heading southbound. Each train ran every ten minutes. Never had to wait very long. The trip took ten minutes, he didn't sit. And no one could blame him. Who the hell knew what was on those seats.

Dean skipped steps to get down to the library. Sam was waiting for him. "Dean, who are these people?"

"They aren't people, Sam. They're monsters. And like all monsters, we're gonna gank these sonsabitches and get back to our lives." Dean followed him into the library and up to the mezzanine. Sam had a preference of where they sat for research. Dean would normally just flip through a book. But no, Sam would scroll through pages and pages of lore before he finally got something and chime in with, 'so get this...' and then continue with whatever he'd discovered.

"Alright. Let's just get this over with." Sam looked visibly disgruntled. Uncomfortable. But that was understandable since he'd just been kissed by a monster. Apparently, a lot.

* * *

It had taken a few hours, but Sam sat up. "So get this...apparently, there have been people being visited by Demigods who would know their names...and then they would just...die. Deadly pranks, it says. But no record of Gabriel or Castiel as Demigods. They are, however..." Sam paused and looked at Dean with a knowing look. "You aren't gonna like this."

Leaning forwards, Dean put his book down and rested his elbows on the table. "Sam, just tell me."

"Alright...they're names of Angels. In fact, Gabriel is an archangel."

"Son of a bitch." Dean shook his head and slumped in his seat. "Awesome. You know, that weird guy sitting across from me said he was an angel, but I didn't believe. I still don't believe it." He thought for a moment. "Do you think they're using the names so we won't figure out they're Demigods?"

"I dunno, Dean. But it's either they're Demigods and you kill them using a stake soaked in lambs blood, or they're angels..." Sam squinted at the screen of his laptop and scrolled through more lore. "And there is no known way to kill them."

"Great. You know...that's exactly what I love hearing." Dean rubbed his face with his hand and sighed again. "And look, I'm full of freaking sighs. Alright. So...lamb's blood. Where to get it."

"I know a place." Sam shut the lid to his laptop and shoved it in a bag. "Ready to go?"

"Yep." Dean doesn't bother putting the book away. Some librarian will get it. All-in-all , this sounds like a terrible plan. To go in blasting, but have no idea what they're up against. Or if they'd even show up again.

* * *

They had their lamb's blood, they had their stakes (ripped of a couple of trees in Lincoln Park) and they had time. In the time that they had, they scrolled through websites and newspapers of daily crimes. Nothing too out of the ordinary. But they weren't dead yet which was a surprise. It had been a week since Gabriel and Castiel had made their appearances. Either they weren't anybody special, or they were very smart.

Dean was willing to bet his money on the latter. Any crazy son of a bitch that was going to announce themselves and then tell them that they would be back would sure as hell know that a couple of hunters would look them up.

This was the part that Sam always hated. Watching Dean pace back and forth and piss himself off even more. He got the whole gank-these-creepy-bastards part, but maybe there was more to this. But everytime Sam tried to speak up about it, Dean would shut him down and then go back to pacing. He was sitting on Dean's futon, laptop on the coffee table in front of him. As he was scrolling through more pages, a light bulb lit up over his head.

"Hey, Dean. I think I found something." Handy internet, always makes it seem like he's learning something new instead of saying something he's come up with.

That got Dean to stop pacing. "What is it, Sammy?" The nickname earned him a bitchface, but Sam wiped it off his face almost immediately so that he would be listened to.

"So it says here, that if you pray for an angel that you've met, it'll come down." Dean sent his little brother a blank look and then he frowned. "It's worth a shot."

"So you want me to bow my head and ask a couple of dicks who might be trying to kill us to come to our living room?" Dean raised his eyebrows as though trying to convey just what a dumb idea that was. "Sammy, that's stupid. I'm not doing that. We have no way to protect ourselves against these guys if they really are angels."

"We'll try the lamb's blood and then the knife, rocksalt, everything, Dean."

"I feel like this is a really bad idea." Dean shook his head, passing a hand over his eyes. "We could die!" He started pacing around the small living room again.

"Will you stop pacing and listen to me?" Sam shut the top of his computer and stood up. "Look, I don't like it either, alright. But it's either this, or we get caught off guard and they kill us when we least expect it. So choose. Now or later?" There wasn't much a choice.

"Fine, Sam. But if we die, I'm gonna kill you." Dean raised his eyebrows at him accusingly.

"Alright. So...start."

"What? Why me?" Dean knew he had agreed to this, but he hadn't expected to go first.

"Because your angel didn't try kissing you." Sam crossed his arms indignantly, expecting Dean to just go along with it.

"My angel. Whoa, man. Castiel is not my angel. We don't even know if they are angels."

"Yeah, I know. We've gone over it. A lot, Dean." Sam was starting to get frustrated and Dean was starting to pace again. "We've got to do this, Dean."

"You boys do know how to fight, don't you?" A different voice was speaking. He was short. Well, anyone was considered short if they were standing next to Sam. "And about nothing."

"Gabriel." Castiel. "I think they mean to harm us." Blue eyes were looking warily at the weapons laid out on various surfaces in the living room.

"Well, they can't." Gabriel made a moment as Dean opened his mouth to speak. Nothing came out. He looked over at Sam and noticed that the same was happening to him too. Against his will, he was sitting on his sofa, frozen and unable to move.

"Gabriel." Castiel's voice was firm, warning. "This is unnecessary."

"You said it yourself, bro." A candy bar appeared in Gabriel's hand as he spoke. "They mean to hurt us." He turned his amber eyes to the two brother sitting on the sofa. "We aren't here to kill you or make your lives miserable, alright. We're...just here." Dean's eyes widened in confusion. "I know, I know!" Gabriel raised his hands in mock surrender. "Why would two hot guys like ourselves appear in your place you and hold you captive for no reason?"

Sam's eyes widened in shock as Gabriel sat on his lap and brushed his fingers through the younger Winchester's hair. Dean was too busy holding a staring contest with Castiel to fully recognise just how weird that was.

"It's because we needed company and we were bored with humans who just don't get it. We know you know what that's like." He drew closer and closer to Sam, his lips trailing down the other neck. "Just think back to all those people you've saved and they had no idea what was going on." Gabriel looked at Castiel pointedly. "You with me, Cassie?"

"Yes." Castiel observed Gabriel's choice of seating with a head tilt and narrowed eyes. "Perhaps..." He closed his mouth and shook his head. "Maybe you could let them speak, brother."

"But where's the fun in that?" Castiel's reply was a glare. "Fine, fine." Gabriel lifted a hand and snapped his fingers.

Sam spoke first. "Get. Off. Of. Me." He still couldn't move, but if looks could kill, Gabriel would have been on fire.

"Oh, Sammy. You know I like when you're so demanding." Gabriel pressed a kiss to Sam's neck. "We'll continue this when we're alone." He winked and stood up.

"What the hell is going on, you crazy douchebag?" Dean was done trying to be understanding. Now, he just wanted them both dead. Gabriel didn't say anything, instead he looked to Castiel who began fidgeting slightly.

"Nothing in particular..." Castiel looked up at the ceiling for a moment, then met Dean's eyes again with such measured caution, it almost rendered the hunter speechless. Almost.

"N-nothing in particular?" Dean wasn't happy. He was a very upset Deanie Weanie. "Then why can't we move?"

"Because we don't want you to exhaust yourselves trying to kill us." Castiel looked at the flasks and bottles of holy water, the tubs of salt, the shotguns with rocksalt. "It wouldn't work."

"You can't possibly know that."

"The only thing that can kill an angel is another angel." Gabriel spoke up. "And even that is no easy task." He sighed. "There was one time...Cassie and I have been together for far too long..." The meaning was pretty obvious.

"You tried to kill each other?" Sam looked at them both in disbelief.

"Sure did, Samsquatch. Well," Gabriel shrugged. "Castiel tried to kill me. Didn't work, obviously. I don't blame him though." He turned to address the other angel. "Do you remember that, bro?"

Castiel looked down in embarrassment. "You didn't have to set off that reactor."

"It didn't blow up!" Gabriel countered. "Three-Mile Island. He's talking about that..."

"That was you?" Dean gave him a half-confused, half-disgusted look.

"It was an accident!" Gabriel said defensively. "I just wanted to see inside."

"Forget it. You're insane." Sam just wanted to move and get them out.

"We're lonely!" Castiel had taken a seat on the coffee table in front of Dean while Gabriel continued speaking. Their eyes met. Somehow, they had a very calming effect on Dean. Something along the lines of Heavenly and apple pie, but in visually satisfying form.

"You're like pie." Dean said suddenly. The words had come out accidentally and he kind of just blurted them out. Castiel's eyes narrowed again.

"Neither my vessel, nor my true form are anything like pie, Dean." However, as if to check, Castiel looked down at his rumpled suit and trench coat. There was a snap of fingers and a pecan pie was sitting on Dean's lap.

After Sam had recovered from his shock of whatever Dean had just said, he looked over Gabriel again. "You? You're lonely?"

"We both are. I mean..." Gabriel looked at Castiel. "We've got each other, but it just isn't the same. We can't do anything fun together. I swear, trying to break this guy into human lifestyles is like trying to hurt Superman without kryptonite. It doesn't work. See watch." He addressed Castiel full on. "Cassie, let's go see Spiderman."

"Spiders are not men. Nor are men spiders. So I don't get how we can go see them." Castiel's voice was level, but there was a certain kind of edge to it.

"See? Hopeless. We've been on earth together, walking among mortals for...I dunno. A long time. I was known as Loki for a bit. That just shows how old we are. We're old, lonely, and bored. So entertain us."

Dean snapped out of his weird trance-like state. "We aren't your damn puppets. Now, let us go."

"Oh, Deanie Weanie. You are a tough cookie to sell." At the nickname, Dean almost exploded.

"If you ever call me that again, I will find a way to kill you. I know there has to be a way other than just another angel."

"You could always try seducing Cas and then convince him to kill me." Gabriel bounced his eyebrows. "You're cute when you're angry."

Castiel looked down at the pie on Dean's lap. It was steaming and it smelled pretty good. Carefully, he picked it up and moved it an empty area on the coffee table next to him. Dean's eyes widened as he watched Castiel get closer to him just to grab the pie.

"Cas, you're gonna wanna move back a bit." As Gabriel said that, Cas vanished from the table and appeared against on the other side of the room and nodded. Gabriel snapped his fingers and the brother could move again.

Dean was on his feet in an instant. And reached for the demon knife only to realise that it had vanished from its spot on the table. He looked around and noticed that all of their weapons had vanished. He looked for the Devil's Traps on his ceilings and when he realised they were still there, he looked over at Castiel and Gabriel.

"I knew you were still gonna try to kill us." Gabriel sighed.

"To clarify. When Gabriel says 'entertain', he means that he wants to hunt with you." Castiel spoke up when he felt that he wasn't threatened anymore. Dean, on the other hand, still felt very threatened.

"I don't think I understood you, Chuckles." Dean narrowed his eyes. "Hunt with us?" He looked over at Sam who seemed to also be in shock. "What the hell? If you're so damn bored, why don't you just go on your own hunts."

"You think we haven't tried, Dean-o?" Gabriel sighed. "We just finish so quickly. So we tried doing it the human way, but it was...so hard." The archangel whined. "You and your brother are just so damn thorough. We've been keeping an eye on you for the past few weeks."

Sam stood and stepped away from the sofa and around the table. "Weeks? You've been watching for weeks? How many weeks?" He looked at Castiel who ducked his head in silence.

Gabriel spoke up. "About fifteen or sixteen weeks. Basically since you moved here. And we weren't gonna stick around for very long. We only did because you two idiots appeared."

"We're not idiots, jackass." Dean was sincerely tempted to punch Gabriel as hard as he could in the face.

"Right. Just a high school dropout with a GED and a Stanford runaway." Gabriel condescendingly pointed out. "Alright, fine. I don't give you nearly enough credit for what you're worth. What do you think, Sassy Cassie? Are they brilliant enough to go hunting with?"

Castiel turned his entire body to Gabriel and Gabriel did the same and for a moment they remained silent. The only communication that seemed to transpire was a series of intense stares. Dean and Sam shared a confused look. Eventually, Gabriel threw up in hands in mock defeat and turned back to the two brothers.

"Alright, consensus is yes. You are worthy enough for us to hunt with you." Gabriel smirked. Castiel vanished. "Don't mind him. He just has a major stick shoved so far up his ass..."

"What if we don't want you hunting with us? Regardless of what you have to say." Sam huffed.

"Well...you're just gonna have to get used to the idea. You're not gonna get rid of us. Even though you want to." With those final words and a suggestive wink at Sam, Gabriel vanished.

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A/N: So Gabriel is actually just so much fun to write. I hope you liked it. Review please, lemme know if I should keep going 3


	3. Chapter 2

"Maybe we can just not go on hunts." Sam was Dean's dining room table, scrolling through the internet.`

"Yeah, right, Sammy." Dean flopped back on his sofa. "There's an idea. Avoid every single newspaper and news report and then let more people die. That's a great idea." Dean turned on his side. This was starting to become unnecessarily annoying. All he wanted to do was get back to his normal life. Back to his normal job working at a coffee shop. And he knew Sam wanted to get back to taking online classes to get into University of Chicago's law school. Hunting had become a side job.

And they had liked it that way. Living like normal people, living in houses, saving people occasionally-when the opportunity presented itself. But this...these angel-dicks had destroyed that normalcy that they had tried so hard to obtain. This was just wasn't fair. They had been able to carve out just a little area of peace with the occasional monster and live. Really, truly live.

"I'm not saying it's the best idea. I'm just saying it's probably all we've got, Dean." Sam's tone was in between pleading and factual.

"Alright, fine. I'll trust the lawyer." Dean thought it over. "But the instant people start dying, we're gonna give in, alright? And we'll deal with Chuckles and Shortstack when we get there." He didn't leave too much room for arguing, but he already knew Sam wouldn't. The terms were pretty straight-forward.

"Alright, Dean." Sam walked into the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. They stayed silent after that. But they were both thinking carefully and continuously about whatever the hell was happening.

Sam hated this just as much as Dean did. But he had to say, at least Cas didn't start kissing Dean. I mean, the eye fucking was pretty weird. But the angel hadn't made himself comfortable cuddling with Dean and pressing wet, open-mouthed kisses down his neck, to his collarbone with a small bite... He snapped back to reality and slammed his mug down, a gravity-defying spout of coffee raising about eight inches from the mug.

"Sammy? You okay in there?" Apparently it was pretty loud.

"Y-yeah. I'm-uh-yeah, I'm fine. I just...you know, got really excited about drinking coffee." That was the worst lie in existence and he was more than just aware of that fact. He rested his forehead against the cupboards above the counter and internally groaned. This wasn't okay.

* * *

"Gabriel, perhaps we were a little harsh with them." Castiel was leaning against a wall in their penthouse on Lake Shore Drive with his arms crossed. The first time Gabriel had introduced Castiel to their new place, Cas had marveled at the view, at the space, at how well it was decorated, just marveled at everything. Except the liquor. That, he kind of just tilted his head in confusion at. He had stopped questioning Gabriel's ways at getting things after a few hundred years. But even Gabe had to admit that penthouse was a bit much. But, hey, he's an archangel. There's nothing he can't have.

"Relax, bro. They'll get used to us." Gabriel manifested a glass of scotch and a candybar and plopped down on his sectional in front of an unnaturally large plasma screen television. "You should try enjoying human life for a bit. You...change, for one. I mean, the whole accountant thing you've got going on...it's weird. And some people have mistaken you for a flasher."

"I don't flash, Gabriel." Castiel sat down on the other side of the sofa, as far away from Gabriel as he could get whilst still being comfortable. "You aren't taking this seriously. We've been watching them for weeks now, and we should have realised that the last thing they would ever want is two angels appearing in their lives and turning it over."

"Look at them." Gabriel snapped his fingers and the plasma turned on. Sam was in his kitchen sipping coffee. Dean was resting on the sofa reading through John Winchester's journal. "Do they look happy to you?" Cas narrowed his eyes at Gabriel. "Okay, fine. Maybe today isn't the best example." He bit his lip for a moment. "Oh, here. Two weeks ago." The screen flickered and the scene changed.

Sam was studying hard for an exam that he had to take soon. His face was buried in his book. His right hand scribbling notes about whatever he was reading. Dean was running through a fire, . Castiel would be the first one to admit that seeing Dean's bare forearms flexing while he worked were exemplary constructs of the human body. His contours were perfect. And his face perfectly symmetrical, shapely, handsome.

"You enjoying the view, bro?" It was kind of cute to see Castiel pining for a human. Especially stubborn, repressed Dean Winchester. When it looked like Castiel was about ready to just vanish and go do whatever it was that he did when he vanished, Gabriel sighed. "It's fine. It's normal. I'm not gonna be weird about it."

"Dean might be."

"Just because you're in the body of a guy doesn't mean you are one. I mean...we aren't really men. We're angels. We can be whomever we feel like. It could be fun."

"I don't have the power to change my appearance, Gabriel." Cas sighed and finally turned his attention away from the screen in front of him. "No, they don't look happy. But they possibly could have. We will never know."

"You have said that so many days in a row, I'm tempted to rip out your vocal cords." Gabriel already knew that wouldn't work though. He'd already tried.

"I'll just heal myself again." Castiel's words were pretty bitter. He still hadn't fully forgiven Gabriel for that little incident in 1789. It had been a pretty good reason.

Gabriel decided not to argue the point and just go back to the Sam and Dean conversation. "Yeah, still sorry about that. Almost two and a half centuries later...but, really. C'mon, I think they'll be happy to finally have two guys like us on their side. Can you imagine...being human and having to take down say...an alpha? Or...a shougo?"

"Dean drinks a lot, so I can't imagine his fighting a shougo being that difficult." Castiel sighed and laid his head in his hand. "I know what you're thinking. And, no. It's a terrible idea." They had been together for far too long for Cas to not know when Gabriel was forming an asinine plan.

"Oh, c'mon, Sassy Cassie. Just think about it," Gabriel leapt dramatically off the sofa and spun in a circle with his arms wide. In a voice very close to an action movie narrator, he laid out the plan. "A mob of demons approach the two hunters. They're out of holy water, no salt, no nothing. It's just them. About to die. They look at each other. There's only one knife. Perhaps a chance for just one of the brothers to get away. And your Dean takes the chance to sacrifice himself. Yet before he does, you sweep in and save him, doing that light show that you're so fond of. He swoons and you have yourself a boyfriend. And then, I zap Sam off somewhere safe and heal all of his wounds and give him a nice hot mug of coffee. And...BAM! they love us."

Castiel had patiently listened to the plan, but his frown had deepened. "Gabriel, as I've said, it's a bad idea." He shook his head. "And if we know them as well as we claim to, then we should know that Dean wouldn't 'swoon' and Sam would be less than happy to be taken somewhere away from his brother after a battle."

"You and your logic." Gabriel visibly deflated and fell back on the sofa. "Just...forget those things for a moment, and at least try to get a thank you out of them." That earned a small, eyes-only smile from Castiel. "Alright. So, decided. Thursday then?" It was Monday.

Of course it would be a Thursday. "Yes, Gabriel." Castiel sighed and dropped his head. He still felt that this was a terrible idea. There was no arguing with Gabriel. Not really. It usually ended in an earthquake or a hailstorm.

When they had first gone rogue and decided that Heaven's family stress was too much to handle, the two of them had gotten along just fine. For about four thousand years. And then after the Boleyn incident, their relationship began to slowly disintegrate. The final straw for Castiel was when Gabriel had popped into a nuclear reactor and touched something. The final straw for Gabriel was when Castiel said he didn't care much for chocolate. It had started out petty and then it turned into an ice storm in Detroit in 1976. It was pretty bad how often they would fight, but after a couple of decades away from each other, they had finally calmed down and met back up again in Chicago five months ago. And this was okay. They were getting along just fine. They were comfortably living with each other Gabriel hadn't sent Cas anywhere against his will yet.

"You should try saving Sam on a Tuesday." Castiel suggested aimlessly.

"Sam was born on a Tuesday." Gabriel chuckled. "He's been on my radar since he popped out." Even after he said that though, his expression grew thoughtful. "Alright. We're gonna separate them then, and you'll save Deanie Weanie on Thursday, and I'll save Samsquatch tomorrow." Gabriel stood up and pressed a small kiss to Castiel's forehead and vanished.

Something bad was going to happen, Cas could just feel it.

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A/N: Here's chapter 2! I hope you liked it, my sweets. Please review and let me know what you think. Whether i should continue this way or what. xxPyx


	4. Chapter 3

_A/N: Hello my dearies! Sorry it took so long to post this! I'm sorry it's kind of a crappy chapter, I tried...I did, but between hives and work, I wrote on the bus. I hope you like it 3_

_Unbeta'd, so all mistakes are mine. xxPyx_

* * *

"Damnit, Dean! I'm your brother, not a housekeeper!" Sam tossed his rag at Dean and threw his arms up in frustration. "You know what? You've turned into a vegetable. Ever since Cas and Gabe appeared in front of us, you've been moping and acting like...like...like a girl!"

"My god, Sam. You've given them nicknames!" Dean peeled the wet rag off of himself and threw it in the sink. "Don't you call me a girl. Not you. I thought you're all, 'treat women equally and tell them that they're all wonderful and-" Dean spoke mockingly.

"You don't have to be so misogynistic!" Sam countered. "What I was referring to was that you're moping around like a twelve-year-old girl who was just rejected by her crush!" He decided that this was it. He couldn't spend one more minute with Dean. "I'm going for a walk."

"Where to?"

"Does it matter?" Sam pulled his jacket on. "This is Chicago, by the way, there are a million places i can go." Truthfully, he had been craving a certain kind of chocolate since the angel fiasco began, and he didn't get why. And with that, Sam just left. He just couldn't handle anymore of Dean's bitching or his complaining and acting like a kicked puppy. He was quick about leaving and went the opposite of where Dean thought he wouldn't go, so he went the way he normally went.

Sam all but ran down the stairs and down the street to the red line to Michigan Avenue. Time for some Ethel's chocolates. Even though Sam couldn't see him, Gabriel was following behind close by, keeping in step and openly checking out his body.

Dean, on the other hand, had remained right where he was after Sam stormed out. He figured that Sam would just head over to library to cool off for a bit and then come back later that night and they would just never talk about that moment ever again. So Dean went into his kitchen to make himself a burger. This was what he had wanted ever since he could remember. A place to himself where he could make his own dinner and call it his own. No more microwaving his dinners in some grubby gas station.

Burgers, Dean decided, were his favourite foods and fries. And...and pie. Of course pie. This was nice. Exactly what he had been searching for for as long as he could remember.

Castiel was watching carefully as Dean made his burgers and other foods. He stayed cloaked as he followed Dean around his kitchen. The hunter drank a beer while he flipped burgers. It was strange how stress relieving this was, for both of them, even if Dean didn't realise it. While his charge ate, Castiel was sincerely tempted to uncloak himself and say hello, but that wasn't part of the plan. As messed up as Gabriel's plan was.

This was nice though. Standing over Dean while he watched a mindless television show about earth doctors that really over-enjoyed each other's presence. It was the simplicity of humanity that he loved. Not the unnecessary complexities of having to change one's personality depending on one's location. Even a change so simple from one's home to his or her car demanded such a change in demeanour that was almost completely unnecessary. Castiel missed it when all humans worried about was if they were going to eat that night or not. Not if they'll be able to pay for an educational institution or if they will make enough money to retire or if they'll manage to climb the corporate hierarchy in able to ascend what was considered to be metaphysical greatness. But Dean Winchester was able to hold a job and still enjoy his little life.

Castiel stayed poised at the door jam, hands in his pockets, his eyes focused on the television. It was cute and full or rather attractive people. Well, attractive by human standards. Dean was, well, attractive by anyone's standards, whether human, angel, demon, man, woman, werewolf, vampire...he was who Da Vinci was searching for. Although, Castiel was sure that there were other perfectly proportionate human beings in the world other than Dean Winchester. It was just Dean Winchester who had saved the world and the world didn't even know. Humanity's unsung hero.

Castiel had lost track of time. How long he had been standing there, watching Dean eat and curl up and watch what Castiel learned to be called Doctor Sexy, M.D. He had shadowed a doctor once, and it was not anything like this show. But it had grown dark outside and Dean's plate had long since been abandoned and he found himself to be perfectly content just sitting there. If only Dean knew that in three days he would see Castiel in a completely different way. It was a bit of a worrying thought though. Thinking that someone so untrusting as Dean would actually come to trust him. And what would come out of it? Probably not what Gabriel was anticipating. It would be nice to, but Dean wasn't that kind of human.

Gabriel decided then to make his appearance. His eyebrows raised pointedly at Castiel. He shook his head and motioned for them to return to the penthouse. So they did.

"Look at you!" Gabriel stood at the bottom of the landing in the living room. "You're totally smitten with the guy! Did you even move? Even once?" Gabriel was difficult when he got into these giddy moods. Typically, it meant that he was going to start planning some pretty devious stunts. Castiel wasn't going to let that happen.

"Brother, I would prefer if you wouldn't do anything drastic. I am able to handle this on my own." Castiel sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Are you, Castiel? Are you really able to handle this thing on your own?" Even as Gabriel said those words, Cas was absolutely certain that even if he answered that he could handle it, the archangel would still interfere.

"Yes, Gabriel. Just allow me to take care of it one my own." Castiel went over to the refrigerator in the adjoined room and pulled out a beer. Gabriel always kept a strange stash of alcohol and sweets. But Castiel had never really been into trying alcohol.

"What the hell are you doing, Cassie?" Gabriel was next to him in an instant. "Are you...drinking?" His jaw dropped. "Oh, Father in Heaven. I hope you're seeing this. Your little boy is all grown up." He put his arm around Cas. "Let's go drinking tonight."

Castiel resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I just want to try it."

"Dean is having quite the influence on you." Gabriel squeezed Cas' shoulder. "It's okay though. I kinda like you when you're into trying the fun stuff." Castiel sent his brother a glare. Before he could even attempt speaking, he was cut off again. "We need to get you out of those clothes if you're gonna go clubbing." Before Cas could protest, Gabe snapped his fingers and put Cas into something a bit less 'holy tax accountant'.

When Castiel looked down at his clothes again, he was clad in slim black slacks, a white collared shirt, and a grey waistcoat. His hair was still a mess of unruly black waves. He pouted when he realised that he didn't have a place to put his hands.

"You look like you just had mad sex." Gabriel smirked and changed his own clothes. Dark jeans and a flannel shirt. "Look at us, moving up in the world. As hipsters. Just one thing is missing on you." He snapped his fingers and Cas felt something around his neck.

Castiel jumped and instantly pulled at the fabric that had encircled his neck. Nothing threatening. "Gabriel, I am beginning to regret this decision."

"Don't. You look sexy. You'll get Dean like this." Cas tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Never mind. C'mon, it's time to get our moves on!" Gabriel winked and snapped his fingers.

* * *

The instant the two of them appeared within the club, Gabriel took off, determined to find some cute human and fornicate. Castiel wandered over to the bar, pushing through gyrating couples who were connected posterior to anterior and so on. He felt unfriendly hands as he walked by groping at his nether regions, but he ignored them for the bar. All he wanted was to just try a drink, that was it.

"What'll it be, pretty boy?" The bartender leaned against the bar as he spoke to Castiel. By human standards, the bartender was attractive. The angel knew his name to be Ben, born on a Thursday.

"Your strongest mixed drink. Something good, I suppose." After Ben went off to make his drink, Castiel stared at his forearms in shock. It had been a while since he had seen them. Perhaps a good good decade or so. Which passed by fairly quickly, as decades go.

"Here you go, one Manhattan. Some guy over there picked up your tab." Ben nodded over to a man sitting at the opposite end of the bar. The man winked at him. Cas nodded in acknowledgement and downed whatever had been given to him.

Ben leaned forward and spoke conspiratorialy. "Don't let him get too close to your drinks. He comes around often and always leaves with someone. I'm sure he drugs them."

"I'll be just fine, thank you. However, I appreciate your concern." It wasn't as though Castiel didn't know how to flush his system. Besides, the normal amount of rufilin that a person put in another person's drink wouldn't even be close enough to even begin to affect Castiel.

The man sat himself down next to Castiel, his body leaning suggestively towards the angel. "So, beautiful, what brings you to this part of the world?"

"A man." Castiel answers truthfully, picking up his drink and sipping from it.

"I knew you swing that way. I could see it from across the bar." The man continues to lean forwards.

"I don't swing any way. I do not prefer the perpetual movement of staying in one confined area that swinging consists of." Castiel downs his drink in a single gulp and taps the bar for another.

"Wow. You really know how to put it down. I wonder what else you know how to swallow." The man places his hands on Castiel's knees, leaning close to his lips. "I'm Max, by the way."

Castiel looks up at Max and narrows his eyes when he's touched. "No, that's your preferred name. Your given name is Eugene." Max-Eugene takes his hands away in shock and sits back.

"How the hell do you know that?" Pleasantries are beginning to slip.

"You are no stranger to me, Eugene. Perhaps, if you chose a more righteous way of seduction, you would not feel so empty." And that ended the conversation.

Eugene shouted abuse at Castiel, telling him to go to Hell. Unbeknownst to him, Castiel had already been there and had not enjoyed it very much. Needless to say, a return visit would be unlikely.

Ben leaned against the bar, giving Castiel plenty of space. "Wow, you sure do know how to ward off creeps, don't you?" He smirked.

"I know how to do a lot of things." It was not the Angel's purpose in existence to answer forward questions so vaguely, he merely replied with the truth.

"And for that, your next drink is on the house. I hope that son of a bitch doesn't come back." Castiel looked up at Ben and saw his disgust and his anger, yet at the same time his relief.

"I sincerely doubt that he will." Castiel attempts a smile and Ben goes off to start his next drink. Same thing.

Castiel figured that if he would be there for a while, he should at least let himself get just a little drunk. Maybe not super drunk, but drunk enough that Dean isn't constantly on his mind. Or the festivities that Gabriel had been sharing with Sam Winchester.

But it didn't help. Five Manhattans, twelve tequila shots, one Phil Collins, and ten screwdrivers later, Castiel was beginning to feel a lot less holy. His thoughts aout Dean had only increased. Gabriel must have sensed his distress and appeared next to him towards the end.

"Wow! You're on fire! Let's get this party started, bro!" Gabriel, although better and holding his liquor, was in it for being able to act as though drunk. "'Ow 'bout...'bout Dean comes 'ere? He'd-he'd like to ride you like a, like a horse. Ooh! He wants your sexy buns." He leaned close to Cas. Ben shot hm a curious look.

"Hey, be careful, Castiel. I might have to cut you off soon."

"It's not-it's not me that needs cutting off." Cas hiccups and then giggles. Not one of those cutsie giggles, no, it was a manly giggle He looks over at Gabriel. "You know...if you bring Dean Winchester here, the righteous man will kill you. Or at least, he'll find a way to. Or-or maybe he'll just say he will and then punch you and then break his hand and then yeah."

"Aren't you supposed to be the eloquent one?" Gabriel laughs and downs a jello shot. His eyes widen. "Cassie, you gotta try this." He grins. "Barkeep! Another!" He slams his glass down in jollity.

"No. Drinking a solid is redundant." Castiel leans back in his stool, nursing his beer. When he got a beer, he'd never know, but why not drink it?

"You're the worst angel in existence. Do you even know what jello is?" Gabriel placed his hands on either side of Castiel's face. "Worst. Angel. Ever."

"Okay, I'm cutting you two off." Ben announces.

"No! We'll be good, we promise." Gabriel whines at the bartender and then drops his forehead onto Castiel's shoulder. "Let's get Dean!"

Castiel shakes his head. "No. That is not consented by me. If you bring him here, I won't be a part of it."

"He won't see it that way." And with a snap of his fingers, Dean was sitting right next to Castiel, a look of sheer bewilderment on his face.

"What the hell?" Dean shakes his head and stands up from the bar. "You two!" He lays eyes on Cas and barely resists the urge to punch him.

"Blame Gabriel." The words come out slurred, and he turns away from Dean. The nagging persistence at the back of his head is pressing forward, much stronger than before.

"I don't care who did it. Send me back home."

Ben is looking at the new arrival with a look of surprise. "You're sneaky. Usually I see people coming." He must have missed the Angel mojo part of his appearance. "Are you friends with these two?"

"Hell no. They abducted me."

"That seems pretty unlikely. This guy here," Ben gesticulates over to Castiel. "He's a freaking saint. A little weird when he's drunk...a little weird all the time, really. But he's a good guy. Called some dick out on date rape earlier tonight."

Dean looked over at Cas, he felt like there should have been a little bit more surprise at how holy he was, but then again, he was still being led to believe that he's an Angel.

"You're really an Angel, huh?"

"Dean, you make it sound like we're all gay for each other. We're Angels and you're, well, Deanie Weanie." Gabriel leaned in close to Dean and muttered in his ear. "I should bring Sam out here too. I'll do so many things to him."

Dean, none too nicely, pushed Gabriel's face away and shuddered. "Stop. I don't want to think about you ogling my brother."

He tapped the bar. If he's not gonna be put back home, might as well enjoy a beer or two. Ben walked over. "What can I get for you?"

"A beer. Anything in a bottle." Dean turned around so that he could lean back against the bar. His eyes scanned the dancefloor for some pretty young thing. It was his intention to ignore everything that was happening to his right. Castiel and Gabriel were clearly drunk and clearly not making any sense.

"You shouldn't do that. Lust is one of the Seven Deadly Sins." Castiel had turned his attention away from his brother to watch Dean carefully. Dean who was, for all intents and purposes, a righteous man with beautiful features and an ever-bright soul.

"Well, I guess I'm going to Hell then. I mean, well, the Bible says that only 100,000 souls will make it to Heaven. So my chances were already pretty slim." Dean tips his beer to Castiel who only tilts his head in confusion. Dean rolls his eyes at the look. "Can you just send me home?"

Gabriel chooses that moment to interject. "I really like you being here. Cassie finally has some eye candy. Do you know how long it took him to find someone he was interested in?"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Dean look between the two Angels who, in all honesty, didn't seem angellic at all.

"He wants your hot bod, riled up and sweating up against a wall." Gabriel giggles and downs a fruity looking drink.

Castiel was doing all that he could to not look at Dean. But the hunter was staring in awe and confusion. "You're both crazy. I'm going home." He dropped a twenty on the bar and stalked off.

"Go get him, tiger!" Gabriel unceremoniously shoved Castiel off of his stool and pushed him in the direction that Dean had gone. "And before you go, sober up."

Castiel flushed the alcohol from his system, leaving himself sober. He mentally kicked himself. There was no way that he was going to go to Dean. His alcohol induced brother was out of his mind. So instead, Castiel zapped himself home.


	5. Chapter 4

FOUR

_A/N: Sorry that last chapter ended rather abruptly. I didn't want Cas to get too out of character. Good job I did at that, right. Siiiiiggghhhh. Well, I'm not entirely sure where this chapter is heading. So let's just hope for the best. Also, unbeta'd, so all mistakes are mine -Pyx_

Sam was getting sick of angels. Just one angel, really. The apartment he and Dean lived in was stocked to the brim with chocolate of all different flavours. Some expensive chocolates from France and Italy. Others cheap with their crinkling vanity wrappers. And there was the fondue fountain that had materialised itself in the living room. And what was worse, was that Sam actually like the chocolate-dipped strawberries. he knew he wasn't supposed to be eating them, but Dean certainly was and nothing weird was happening to him, so why was Sam starting to long to see Gabriel?

He wasn't. Nope, not at all. He leaned back in his chair, ignoring the cup of hot chocolate that appeared next to him. This was getting bad. He wondered if Castiel was anything like this. If the amount of eye-fucking that they did with each other was any indication, yes. Or maybe it was a different kind of giving. Sam shuddered and laid his head on his desk. He began to wonder if their staying in Chicago had something to do with meeting Gabriel. Or rather, if they had never decided to try the pizza, would they have landed themselves on Angel-Radio. Angel-Radio? That was a Dean thing. Or was it a Gabriel thing? Or just a sugar thing?

Sam sighed and picked up his hot chocolate. No marshmallows, he thought to himself. And then there they were. He set down the mug and turned to his presumably empty room. "Gabriel. I know you're there." He waited. There was no sudden materialisation of Gabriel, but there was a shift in the room. Sam decided to continue anyways. "Look, I don't get why you're doing this. I'm not even sure if I want to know. But, seriously, you've gotta stop with the chocolates, man."

There was another shift in the room and all of the chocolates vanished and there stood Gabriel in the middle of the room. "Alright, Samsquatch. I know you're more of a salad and real fruit smoothie kind of guy, but sometimes you just gotta give in and eat some chocolate."

"Yeah, but I don't need to eat an apartment amount of chocolate to get enjoy it. Maybe a piece or two every so often." Sam wouldn't admit out loud that he would have preferred an apartment full of cabbage or lettuce and tomatoes. But after a while, even those would get annoying.

"Does nothing please you?" Gabriel wandered around the room that he had been standing in for a while, but had never allowed himself to touch. He carefully picked up Sam's alarm clock, inspected it, then set it down. Then he wandered over to his laptop and brushed his fingers over the lid. Sam watched in gut-wrenching fascination as Gabriel went to various items in his room and inspected them with level reverence.

A silence had taken over the entire apartment. Somewhere a fan was on. His window was open, the sounds of cars against gravel passed by infrequently. Sam wasn't sure how long he had watched Gabriel touch his stuff, but he figured it had been long enough. "Time, Gabriel."

"That's your love language? Time?" Gabriel blinked. But then his expression turned much more understanding. "I guess that makes sense."

"And yours is, lemme guess. Either physical or gifts, right?"

"Physical actually. Good guess. I suppose time and sex go hand-in-hand, am I right?" Gabriel waggled his eyebrows, and for a moment, Sam forgot that he was talking to an all-powerful Archangel.

"Time first." Sam emphasised.

"Sex later?" Gabriel looked undeniably hopeful, and there was something about that expression that almost stirred something in Sam.

He remained silent and that only made Gabriel's smile grow larger. "Don't get your hopes up."

"Always hopeful, Sammy."

"Don't call me that. Only Dean gets to call me that." Sam takes a set on his desk and shakes his head. "Why are you really here?"

"Because Castiel is in love with your brother."

"What." It was hardly a question. "But...no." Sam shook his head, slumping on his desk. "Castiel has no chance with Dean. I mean...they're both men."

"That's not the part that worries me."

"Dean's straight."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Gabriel smirks.

Sam pushes off of his desk and stands in Gabriel's face. "No. Dean is the straightest man I've ever met or even heard of. He doesn't do chick-flick moments and he doesn't even talk about his feelings. What the hell makes you think that he's gonna open up to a guy?"

"You have a pretty misconstrued perception on homosexuality there, Sam." Gabriel shakes his head and sighs, clearly unaffected by Sam's standing so close. "And I'm not talking about 'opening up' to him-well, not in that way…" He snickers. "I hope you realise you were gone for four years and Dean was pretty much on his own."

"Your point?"

"My point is that you have no idea what he was up to those four years."

"No."

"Face it. He's had his gay moments."

"No." Sam shakes his head, trying to banish the thought. "He's Dean! Emotionally repressed, skirt-chasing, ghost hunting, demon killing, Dean! He doesn't do dudes!"

"You're right." Sam sighs in relief. "They do him."

Sam's jaw drops and he looks at Gabriel with wide eyes. "We aren't having this conversation right now. Go away." He can't hear this right now. Just the thought of Dean being anything other than straight was enough to send him into an existential crisis. Not that Sam was even close to being anti-gay or anything like that, it just…the way they were raised.

"Alright, Sam. I'll let you think on that. Your father wasn't close-minded, he just wouldn't talk about his feelings." And with a smirk, Gabriel vanishes, leaving Sam to his freaking out.

* * *

Castiel stands out on the balcony and stares out at Lake Michigan. He barely hears Gabriel when he walks out to join him.

"You know, bro, this isn't as dismal as it seems." When Castiel doesn't respond to him, Gabriel sighs and hands him a lollipop. "Just think...Dean isn't straight. So, you'll always have a chance."

"Not if he is insistent on my lack of sanity." Castiel folds his fingers in front of him and rests them over the railing. Gabriel can't help but notice the helplessness in his brother's eyes.

"Oh my Dad." He suddenly breathes. Castiel opts to ignore him. "You're lovesick. Holy shit. You're actually lovesick. Like a goddamn schoolgirl."

"Do not blaspheme."

"You've gotta talk to him about this. He'll be very happy to know that an Angel of the Lord is in love with him." Gabriel is now positively giddy, half-hopping up and down and half-spinning in a circle. "I'll be back later. I've gotta tell Sam."

Castiel wheels around, a reprimand on his lips. But it's gone when he realises that Gabriel has already vanished in a quiet flurry of feathers. He's left alone again to his thoughts. Thoughts that he wishes so heard would leave him alone, but were only becoming more and more persistent with each day. He couldn't stop thinking about the face and body of the Righteous Man in all of his glory. 'Lovesick' is the term that Gabriel used. But contrary to that term, he did not feel at all ill. Perhaps, there was a slight fluttering sensation in his abdomen, and a tight clenching in his chest, but nothing that had to do with illness.

He's so lost in his thoughts, he doesn't hear the snap.

* * *

When the alarms go off, Dean just about jumps off of his seat and heads straight for his gear, pulling on his fire garments quickly. He slides down the pole and runs for the fire engine. He gets pulled along by Cole and James. The only thing on his mind is saving people. Even though he's retired from hunting, he can't stand idle and let innocent civilians die. There was one awkward occasion when he had to save a Demon only because killing something that appeared to be human on the job would have gotten him fired and other than that, he had just saved normal, everyday people, who just so happened to suck at cooking.

But this was different. This was an apartment building that had caught on fire. On Lakeshore Drive. A fifteen-story building apparently, which was great, because sometimes people didn't hear the alarms, or people on higher floors weren't directly affected. This was going to be awesome.

Cole is muttering obscenities as he speeds east towards the lake. There's dark smoke rising into the sky as the sun begins to set. Cars pull over and give them space, pedestrians stand far away from the street as they rush by, sirens blazing, lights flashing.

There are two other fire engines right behind them when they park outside the building. "Winchester! Check and see if everyone's already out. Metz! Hook up the hose!" Cole's already shouting out orders. Dean rushes over to the civilians, asking all of them if they're okay. Thankfully, it's one of those super uppity places, so there aren't that many residents. But still. Most of them are out in the street. All of them claim to be okay, a few are shaken up and Dean sends them over to an ambulance where they're given orange shock blankets.

One woman is crying, rather hysterically. "My baby...I left her upstairs." She grabs Dean by the shoulders and gives him a murderous look. "You go up and you get him and bring him to me. On the third floor. 314. When he scared, he hides under the sofa."

Dean blinks. "Your baby does?"

"He's a cat. His name is Sassy. You must get him. Please." She let's go of his shoulders only to start sobbing again. He nods once and then runs over to Cole.

"There's a cat trapped, but other than that, it seems everyone is already out."

"What floor?"

"Third."

"Alright, but you hurry the hell up, you hear me, boy?"

"Yes sir." And with that, Dean tugs on his helmet and runs quickly over to the building and straight up the stairs. He keeps his head down, even with the mask, the smokes infests his system and he coughs. The fire is on the seventh floor, but it's started spreading both upwards and downwards. This cat better be freaking worth it.

Dean kicks straight into room 314 and the air clears up a bit. He can hear the building around him creaking and getting ready to just collapse. He hears something a floor or so up snap and break. There's the sound of distressed mewling coming from beneath the sofa in front of a television. A pretty black and brown Maine Coon with bright blue eyes stare at him. The cats collar is black and reads Sassy in gold letters.

"Come 'ere, kitty. I'm just trying to save you." The first thing Dean notices when he pulls the cat from underneath the sofa, is that it's damn fat. Like twenty pounds, fat. The second thing he notices is how docile the thing is. Sassy curls up in Dean's arms and just starts purring. Dean doesn't think about it for long because he hears more creaking. He runs out of the room, down the hall and down the stairs. He breathes in his first full breath of air and goes to find the woman who forced him in there. Gone. Fucking gone.

The other firemen are attacking the fire with water, but Dean is forced to go on oxygen, despite his protests. The cat is still curled up against him, purring sweetly and nuzzling against his hand.

"Cute, Winchester." James winks at him after the fire is put out. There's nothing cute about Dean. Never. Not even a kitten can make him cute. But this fat furball was making it really hard for others to see him as manly.

Captain Finch is leaning against the ambulance door, staring at Dean with amused eyes. "Well...it seems like that woman ditched. Do we have a new station pet? He stay in the bathroom."

"Why would he stay there?" Dean takes the oxygen mask off and shakes his head. "Ugh….No I think I'm just gonna bring the poor guy home. Look at 'im. I think he likes me." He scratches the cat behinds its ears and it only purrs louder, if possible.

"Wow." Cole just chuckles. "Man...you're something else. Who would've thought you're such a sucker for cats."

"Shut up." Dean stands up and starts walking over the fire engine with Cole. "He's...cute." Sassy looks up at him adoringly and paws at his face.

They sit in the truck and Cole looks at him every now again with a smirk.

"You know, some chicks might think it's kinda sexy." James turns around to look at Dean. "You know, attractive firefighter, cuddling up with a cat. You might actually find yourself a lady."

"And now this topic is off limits." That only makes Cole and James laugh. But they let it drop. The rest of the drive is a companionable silence.

Back at the station, Dean checks the time, three more hours left of his twenty-four hour shift. Not too long, but he's worried about Sassy. Needlessly apparently, because the first thing he does is curl up with Kai, the station's dalmatian and then falls asleep.

"Okay, this is getting way too fucking cute for me. I can't wait until you two assholes get home." James chuckles and shrugs out his giant coat and hat. Dean does the same. "You're gonna need a litter box and cat food, you know." Dean only groans, but realises that James is right.

"I'll cross that bridge when I get there."

* * *

_A/N: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that took so long. I just want you to know that I love all of you and appreciate you all so much! Also, when I wrote this I was enjoying a few glasses of wine and listening to Welcome to Night Vale, so...I'm sorry if it's a little weird. The next chapter only gets worse. Please review just to let me know if this is actually good or not…_

_Love always, Pyx 3_


	6. Chapter 5

FIVE

"What the hell is that?" Sam is sitting on the sofa, presumably studying, when Dean walks in. Sassy is curled up in Dean's arms.

Dean sighs. "What's it look like, Sam?"

"It looks...like a cat."

"Well, look at you, so smart." Dean sets Sassy down on the floor and rolls his neck. "Look, will you keep an eye on him while I go get his litter box and food? I'll be right back."

Before Sam can even think of saying no, Dean is already back out the door and heading down the stairs. Sam is staring at the cat that's staring right back at him, it's blue eyes penetrating. It was kind of cute. Sam called it over and it walked towards him in an undulating manner. Way too posh for a normal cat. Probably one of those rich lady's cats.

Unlike with Dean, the cat didn't jump onto Sam's lap and start purring, he just sat there and stared at him and then made a small mew. Sam looks at the collar and then just starts laughing.

"Seriously? Your name is Sassy?" Did the cat just glare at him? "Alright, we've gotta change that. Let's see...I think you're a boy. I'm pretty sure Dean said you're a boy." The cat paws at Sam's leg and he catches a small glimpse of the pink pads that stick out against black and brown fur. "How about….Beans. Yeah, Beans. Because your paw pads look like beans." The cat-Beans, rather-jumps onto Sam's lap and purrs.

Dean comes back to the room, arms full of PetSmart bags. "Anytime you feel like helping, that would be nice."

"Sorry," Sam shrugs. "Beans' taken a liking to me. I don't want to disturb him." But Beans just hops off when he sees Dean and goes trotting over to him, fat swinging with each step.

"Beans?" Dean looks down at the cat and then at Sam. "Sure beats Sassy." Sam goes over at takes a couple of bags from Dean. "How'd you come up with that name?"

Sam holds up a hand in front of Dean's face and wiggles his fingers. "Paws. They look like beans."

"And people were calling me cute." Dean mutters and sets a bag down in the living room. "Alright, I got this canned stuff and this kibble stuff and treats and...litter." He glares down at the small plastic half-box that would serve as Beans' litter box.

"As if we didn't have other things to worry about, now we have a cat."

"Yeah, well, I rescued the poor guy from a fire today."

"I figured. Most strays are so fat or so well-groomed." Sam took the cat bowls into the kitchen to wash them before setting them out with dry food and water. Dean takes the task of filling the litter box.

"Yeah, well, the lady that made me go get him just kind of vanished. So...here he is."

Sam blinks then looks down at the cat. _Oh, shit_. It was probably best not to rain on Dean's parade just yet...he looked so happy.

* * *

Neither the cat nor Dean are anywhere to be found. Sam looks around the small apartment for a while, but there's no one. Not one person. Oh wait. Dean's room. No...no. No, Dean wouldn't let a fat cat in his room. Then again, he did bring the poor thing home. As quietly as he can, Sam eases open Dean's room and peaks his head inside. Sam doens't want to admit it, but seeing Dean curled up on his bed with Beans sleeping on his chest is really cute.

Beans is sleeping soundly, but he's still purring. Sam takes the chance and slips out to the balcony.

"Gabriel, get down here."

There's a pause and then a quiet flutter of wings. "Ooh, Sammy, y'know it kinda turns me on when you talk like that."

"Cut the crap. What'd you do with Castiel?"

"Do you like my idea?" Gabriel smiles wickedly and rests his back against the railing. "They're happy. Have you seen them? When's the last time Dean looked so ecstatic? Never. And Cassie, well, he's just a downer all the time. But he actually smiled the other day. You don't get just how good the two of them would be for each other."

"Well, apparently Dean's had his gay moments when I was gone at Stanford."

"Yeah, well, they were just one-night stands, really."

"All of his moments are one-night stands." Sam sighs and rans a hand through is hair. "How did Cas feel about this?"

Gabriel raises an eyebrow at the nickname, but opts not to comments on it. "Well...I started a fire and put him in it and named him Sassy. How do you think he feels about it, Samsquatch?" Gabriel watches as Sam runs his fingers through that L'oreal-worthy hair. "How about we spend some time together?"

"I'm pretty sure now isn't the time. Besides, I've got exams next week." Sam glances inside and looks at his law books strewn about the coffee table.

Gabriel outright pouts. "You need a break. Just a coffee, you and me. What d'you say?"

Sam looks weary for a moment. But he was feeling kind of tired and a coffee _would_ be a nice pick-me-up. "Fine, but it isn't a date."

"It's a date." Gabriel touches two fingers to Sam's forehead and they vanish off to the unknown.

* * *

It's warm and rather squishy. Castiel blinks his eyes open and in that moment, he realises that he must have been unconscious. He hears light breathing and he focuses on the sound. His nose is not two inches away from Dean's chin. He opens his mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a meow. Dean blinks his eyes and open and looks right at Castiel and then sighs, dropping his head back to the pillow. To attempt to grab Dean's attention, Castiel nudges his nose gently against Dean's chin and meows again.

Instead of understanding the situation, Dean lazily scratches behind Castiel's ears. He can't help it, but kitty-Cas presses into the feeling and starts purring.

"You're freaking adorable." Dean starts to sit up and Castiel just lets himself roll down Dean's torso to his lap. He ends up sprawled out on his back, his paws waving to get Dean's attention again. "Beans, stop it. All the guys at work are gonna think I'm gay."

_That's rather silly, considered that there are heterosexual men who have cats_. Castiel rolls into a sitting position and watches as Dean gets up and starts stretching. _And you aren't not homosexual, Dean_. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Dean doesn't hear any of that. Castiel jumps to the floor to better watch Dean in his shirtlessness as he stretches. Beautiful.

"Beans, you gotta stop staring at me. It's creepy." That name is something that needs to go away. _Beans_, Castiel all but spat inwardly.

Castiel feels an unholy anger at his brother Gabriel. That much is certain. His powers are repressed, but at least, he doesn't feel a need to relieve any of his feline intestines or refill his stomach. But he couldn't change back into his vessel or go anywhere.

"Dean!" Sam bursts into Dean's room, startling both of them. "There's a case!" Sam looks straight at Castiel and his eyes widen almost in recognition. _Sam knows_, he quickly realises. And he isn't saying a word. Castiel begins to meow and then growl at Sam when he doesn't tell Dean. And soon he's hissing. After a few moments of that, Castiel is chastised by Dean. And then he stops. The realisation that he's actually behaving like a real cat hits him hard and then he curls up into a ball on Dean's lap.

"Wow, Beans, I didn't know you hated Sam so much. He's not a bad guy, he's just a giant." Dean scratches behind Castiel's ears and Sam smiles knowingly. "Now, Sammy, tell me about this case. If no one's dying, I don't wanna hear about it."

"A few have died. It's just a ghost. We can handle it."

"Oh, yeah. Just a vengeful spirit. Nothing like a trip to Lazytown, right?" Dean gently pushes Castiel off of his lap and then stands up. "Alright, where is this son of a bitch."

"Greektown."

"No." Dean refuses before Sam even gets a chance to finish. "No way in hell am I going there. Financial District, North Side, East Side, Chinatown, Suburbs, fine. But not Greektown. We'll die if we go there."

"Dean, you can't know that if you don't go."

"Find another case, Sam." Dean goes across the hall and into his bathroom to wash up, leaving Sam and Castiel alone.

Sam waits a few moments and then looks at Castiel. "I'm sorry. I want to start with that. Also...we can't tell Dean yet. You just slept with the guy. And I haven't seen him this happy for the longest time. So...just go along with it for a couple of days, alright?" Castiel meows quietly and then jumps back up to Dean's bed. "Are you...are you in love with my brother?"

Castiel actually has to think about that. Was he in love with Dean? Was love even allowed to be in his vocabulary? Castiel curls up against Dean's pillow and inhales his scent. Sam has to admit that this is getting to be a bit weird. Castiel hasn't quite answered the question, so he meows and lets Sam interpret that as he will.

* * *

Gabriel is admiring his handiwork. He can't help it. Dean's cuddling with his brother and Sam is thinking about him frequently enough, and Castiel is just happy to be in Dean's bed. That's just how nice it was at the moment. It couldn't possibly get any better. Oh, scratch that, he could be getting in the pants of the cuter Winchester. Gabriel looks around the tiny apartment, at Sam's books and at all of the Devil's Traps and sigils on the walls. Once a hunter, always a hunter as the saying goes.

He can't help but feel like this plan is going to backfire in some way or other. Something along the lines of holy oil and his wings. And Castiel is probably going to try killing him again. And they had just gotten back together again… Oh well. It'll probably be a bonding experience for Cassie and Dean-o. Who knows what will happen.

* * *

_A/N: Alright, so this chapter is much shorter than the others, but I started pulling blanks. Hopefully, next chapter, Sam and Dean'll go on a hunt. We can only hope what my sleep deprived brain can think of next. Also! Thank you for your reviews and follows and so forth, my beautiful lovelies. I'm sorry I turned Cas into a cat, I just couldn't help it. (Spoiler alert: Wings in coming chapters) Heehee coming. Okay! I'm just gonna stop typing now. It's super late/early depending on...things. Review please and lemme know if I'm doing okay or not. -Pyxie xx_


	7. Chapter 6

SIX

"Dean, we have to go to this one." Sam protests openly as Dean pulls on his jacket for work.

"Sam, we've talked about this. No Greektown." Dean glares at Sam.

"They aren't going to remember you."

"I doubt that."

"So you mispronounced a word. So what!" Sam throws his hands in the air when Dean continues to shake his head. "Unbelievable."

"You have exams to attend. We didn't go civilian just to die on a ghost hunt."

"Fine, I'll just call the Ghostfacers. I'm sure they'll be ecstatic to get themselves a ghost and post it all over the internet." Sam shoves his laptop into his bag and and grabs himself a granola bar for-the-go.

Dean sighs. "We'll talk about this tomorrow after work and my four hours and after your exam." He'll probably end up going. "Good luck, Sammy. See you later." With that, Dean gave Beans a little pet on the head and then left.

Sam looked down at the cat and shook his head. "Cas, I don't get how you like this guy. Stubborn jerk." He grabs his all-natural juice and heads out the door a few minutes later, leaving Castiel on his own.

_Gabriel, you son of a bitch, I know you can hear me._ Castiel looks up at the ceiling and waits impatiently for his brother to show up.

"Hey Kitty." Gabriel appears, standing casually in the middle of the room. "You're adorable, I hope you know that."

_I am also obese._

"No, you're a Maine Coon. Maine Coon's are supposed to be fat." That earns him a glare. "Well, there's nothing I can do about that now. Dean's gonna notice if you suddenly shed ten pounds. Also, Sam knows who you are. And I think you're gonna have to stay this way for a little while longer."

_No._ Castiel jumps up to the counter so that he's eye level with Gabriel. _Change me back, Gabriel. This is not going according to your plan_. Whatever it was.

"Hey, I heard that. I have a plan, Cassie. Just...give it some time. He's gonna fall for you."

_Dean Winchester doesn't fall for anyone._

"He did for Cassie." Silence filled the room. "I'm sorry." It's in this moment that Castiel wishes that he could just zap off somewhere and not have to deal with Gabriel. And he does.

One moment he's sitting on Dean's breakfast nook, the next he's in White Russia. Still as a cat though. That wasn't going to go away anytime soon, it seemed. At least now he go where he wanted instead of being tied down to the Winchester's apartment. Castiel's patience is beginning to wear thing. He's stir crazy and exhausted and always feels an overwhelming urge to nap and yawn.

Castiel's eyes turn to the sky and he prays for his vessel back. Being within a cat makes his situation uncomfortable considering he can't even speak. He can't imagine how violently Dean is going to react when he changes back. The thought sends queasy feelings through Castiel's presently feline body.

He needed to think over how he was going to deal with Gabriel when he was fully restored again.

* * *

Dean stumbles back into his apartment, absolutely exhausted and heads straight for bed. The thought of a shower doesn't even cross his mind. Just sleep. Twenty-four hours of driving around Chicago, sitting in the station, waiting for a fire, cooking dinner, cleaning the rigs. Nothing happened though. Someone had gotten stuck in a tree and needed help out. Someone was standing atop Hancock, threatening suicide. Oh right, and then a minor Class A fire in Chinatown.

Sleep. Just sleep was on his mind. Beans followed him into his bedroom and onto his bed. Dean reaches out his arms and wraps them around Beans and falls asleep. He's pretty sure that most cats fight against being tugged into a hug, but he's far too exhausted to even think about it. In seconds, he's asleep and practically dead to the world.

Castiel is frozen, more than just a little ecstatic that he being cuddled by Dean. But then he thinks about how Dean is going to react and he tries to wiggle out of Dean's arms. And then he doesn't want to. Right when he was beginning to fall asleep, Sam busts into Dean's room.

"Dean! Trouble!" Sam sets Castiel gently off to the side and then all but tugs Dean out of his bed. "Come on, we have to go!"

"What the hell, Sam? Four hours of sleep. That's it. That's all I wanted. Four fucking hours!" Dean kicks off his covers and then flails for a bit, feeling anger and exhaustion and oh so much more. He glares at Sam and sighs. "I'm not going anywhere. Go to hell."

And with that, Dean curls into a ball on the floor and attempts to fall asleep again, but Sam grabs him by the wrist and pulls him into a sitting position. "Dean, we have to go." He emphasises the words and then practically pulls Dean out the apartment.

Castiel watches as that happens with disdain in his eyes, but thinks nothing of it and then falls asleep on Dean's bed, letting himself drown in his scent.

Sam practically shoves Dean into the Impala and then gets into the driver's seat. "Dean, we need to talk about Castiel."

"Ugh...now? I was freaking sleeping, Sammy." He can't imagine that this is something that needed to be discussed now, all he wanted to do was forget that feathery son of a bitch and go back to sleep.

"Beans is Castiel." The car fills with a deathly silence as Sam speeds down Lakeshore Drive.

"No, he's not. What the hell are you talking about?" Dean can only stare at Sam. He doesn't want to believe this. For three days he's been cuddling with Beans and scratching him behind his ears and rubbing his- "Shut up, Sam. Castiel has not been turned into a cat." Dean had been pointedly ignoring what had happened in the bar and what Gabriel had said. And now all those words came flooding back to him.

Sam was saying words, but Dean just wasn't hearing any of them. And then he hears, "Gabe changed him into a cat."

Dean turns his head and looks at Sam in horror. "When the hell did that son of a bitch become Gabe? Was it before or after he showered you in chocolates?" His head is reeling, his seat has slipped from under him. "Bring me home."

"No, we're going on a hunt so you can blow off some steam. 'Cause like this, you're just scary and itching for something to kill." Sam seems patient enough, but he avoids the Gabe conversation."

Dean shakes his head, but perhaps ganking some monster would make him feel better. "Alright, fine. Where the hell are we going?"

"Sears Towers. We've got a demon." And if that didn't make Dean positively giddy, he didn't know what did.

"Wait...isn't it Willis Tower?"

"It's Sears."

"No, I'm pretty sure they-"

"This isn't up for discussion."

Dean closes his mouth at that, and then decides to attempt a smirk. "Geez, Sammy, you really know how to give me the tingles." Activate Bitch-Face #42. That somehow makes Dean feel a little better, but he's still feeling kind of queasy.

He supposed the whole cat situation would make a little sense as to why Sam was so insistent on not petting Beans-Castiel-especially since he had given him that name. They park in some parking garage in Financial District for some exorbitant amount, and parked somewhere in the depths of the Earth.

"So...what we're just gonna walk in there as tourists, say 'Christo' and hope we find the Demon?" Dean shoves a bunch of salt and holy water into his duffle as well as a few other non-descript things necessary for the hunt.

"Uhm...yeah. Sure." Sam doesn't seem wholly convinced that that's what the plan is and that only makes Dean a little nervous. "You're better at handling these things than I am."

"What the hell does that mean, Sammy?" Dean's feeling inexplicably upset and angry and confused and then somewhere in there...complacent. His those-that-must-not-be-named have bee going up and down a damn rollercoaster, leaving his those-that-that-must-not-be-named confused and itching for release. And Sam's _I don't know what to do even though I'm a Law Student and_ Quid Pro Quo _and_ Modus Ponens _and stuff_ wasn't helping.

"Just calm down a bit, Dean. This'll be easy. And yes, we're going in a tourists." Sam says as Dean shuts the trunk to his Baby. He just wants to kill something, regardless of what it is and how it gets ganked. As long as it wasn't a witch. He freaking hates witches.

"Alright, let's do it."

* * *

Gabriel can't believe his luck. One cup of coffee with Sam had turned into an entire night together. In the bed, if you know what he means.

Well, not quite. One cup of coffee had turned into an entire night of scheming, which just so happened to be on a bed. Of course Sam is the one who's more to believing in Angels, but he hadn't been expecting Sam ot have jumped on board with the whole _let's hook up our brothers_ thing so quickly. That's brotherly love and if Dean doesn't see it, then, well, oh poor Deanie Weanie. It was simple, even if Sam hadn't fully agreed with it at first, or ever. 1) Get Dean to go on a hunt, 2) Give him false information, 3) Cas goes in as a cat to save Dean, 4) Cas freaks out and _magically_ turns humanoid in a trenchcoat again, 5) Cas freaks out some more and shows off his wings whilst he saves Dean.

See? Simple. But Gabriel's having a little trouble concentrating right now as he watches the younger, sexier Winchester walk with those bowlegs and sexy strut. Eh, no matter what happens, it'll somehow work itself out.

* * *

_A/N: Just to let you know, I haven't lived in Chicago for a couple of years, so if I got a bunch wrong about streets and so on, I'm really sorry… As per usual, mon cheris (if that is the plural in French), please review. More reviews equals faster updates, perhaps even twice a week until classes start up again. I'm actually super excited for the next chapter, bad things are gonna happen *cue maniacal laughter* Mmkay. Okay._


	8. Chapter 7

_A/N: Destiel, babes!_

SEVEN

Plans never go according to plan. Whatever, you know what I mean. Gabriel doesn't understand that somehow despite all of that planning, Sam and Dean end up separated from each other. The building lights have gone out and everyone has been evacuated. Except for these two chuckle-faces. And whatever they're hunting. But for the plan, both of them need to be together and if they aren't together, Dean's just going to spontaneously combust into lollipops and magical confetti.

Dean's currently running through the top floor, trying to find Sam and avoid the Shiter. "Sam?! Sammy?" Nothing. Silence. And then a rustle. Dean pulls his silver knife up to a defensive position. God, some help would be nice right now. Gabriel shrugs, knowing that help would come for him, but first, needed to find where Sam had gone off to.

He drops down a floor to find Sam knocked unconscious by a shifter, blood dripping from his forehead. Rage courses through Gabriel and a white light begins to emit from body. But after a second, he calms himself down and checks to see if Sam is okay. He's fine, but…

"Help! Is anyone here?" Gabriel folds down by Sam's side and starts calling for help, waiting for the shifter to arrive. "Someone's hurt!" He clutches on to Sam's shirt and tries to shake him awake. "C'mon, Sammy…" He mutters under his breath.

He feels a presence behind him. Gabriel turns slowly to see the shifter grinning at him. "Look at you. You humans are so damn pitiful. I barely even hit the guy…" The shifter's taken over the look of a rather attractive young woman.

"Yeah, I get that they go down pretty easily, but," Gabriel gives her a smile of his own. "You don't get to hurt my friends." The same white light pulses through his body and then engulfs the entire room, vaporising the Shifter.

Sam is just barely conscious to see it, but he can't think too hard on it, considering his entire body is in pain and his head is throbbing. Something warm cups his cheek and then…

"Whoa." Sam sits up and looks at Gabriel who's staring at him, a little too close. "Uhh...hi."

"How are you feeling?"

Sam thinks of answering, but he remembers his brother. "Dean!"

"Definitely not the answer I was looking for, Sam." Gabriel still hasn't taken his hand from Sam's face, and in an instant they're upstairs in the same area as Dean. Castiel is still in cat-form, but he's standing protectively in front of Dean, which would have been more threatening if he wasn't so overweight. As the shifter takes a step closer, Castiel's fur rises and then he pounces at the monster, landing nimbly on his face. His Grace leaks through his paws and burns through the eyes of the shifter who's desperately trying to force Castiel off of his face.

Dean's eyes are wide as he watches his transpire. The body of the shifter falls lifeless, eyes burned out of his skull. He doesn't hear the snap. Suddenly, Castiel is standing on two legs, looking just a dishevelled as always, tan trenchcoat hardly fitting, ruffled hair, backwards tie. But his entire being is burning with a power that Dean had never seen or felt before. When he turns around, he meets Dean's eyes for a moment and his expression softens, then he looks over at Gabriel with that same white hot rage that he had just killed the shifter with. Dean's eyes travel downwards slightly and notices the enormous ebony wings that are slowly spreading as he approaches Gabriel.

"Now, Brother? Now that all is fixed, you choose _now_?" Castiel's voice rings with the fury of God himself. "For days I have been trapped within a feline's vessel, overweight and lethargic, and Dean almost dies because of your insolence, your indignation!"

"Whoa, calm down, Cassie."

"Do not call me that." Castiel's voice lowers in spite of himself. His wings are fully extended now and Dean, despite the darkness of the building, can see every feather, every curve, every undertoned shade. His eyes are wide as he continues staring. And he's pretty sure he's got the hardest boner he's ever had in his life. Castiel suddenly turns to him and presses two fingers to his forehead and he's sent back home.

Dean leans against a wall and sinks to the ground, staring blankly at the ground. Sam appears in front of him, looking just as confused.

"You were right...Cas was a cat." The nickname does not go unnoticed by Sam. "Holy shit…"

Sam sits down next to Dean. "He had wings."

"Don't remind me." Dean's way more confused now. He had cuddled and slept with Cas and now this. Sure, Dean had gotten it up for dudes before in the past, but this is just crazy. An Angel, a dude, wings. Fucking wings. And what he really can't shake is that insatiable need to run his fingers through those feathers and watch Castiel writhe beneath him. "I gotta go." He slips into his bedroom quickly and locks the door. He turns up Zepplin and touches himself; frantic, careful, and hardly satisfying. He reaches his climax with the thought of blazing blue eyes half-lidded and parched lips parted in ecstasy.

* * *

"Castiel, c'mon, this is hardly necessary." Gabriel is trapped in a ring of Holy Fire in the middle of an abandoned warehouse. "You got to cuddle with Dean Winchester. I haven't even made it that far with Sam."

"I was trapped in the body of a cat, Gabriel. Do not tell me this is 'hardly necessary'." Castiel's words were complete with finger quotes and sarcastic overtones. Perhaps Castiel had taken speaking for granted and now that he had his voice back, he could only think of all the things he wants to say to Gabriel. "I was powerless and unable to defend Dean."

"But you did, didn't you? And he's alive and thinking about you." Gabriel spread his arms out in exasperation. "You're incredible. Freaking out over a human, it's uncanny."

"You, too, are 'freaking out' over a human. Sam Winchester, Gabriel. Do not think I have not seen the chocolates or knew that you had taken to him Italy for coffee."

"That was a private date." Gabriel protested.

"Being turned into a cat is, as Dean would say, pretty messed up." He sighed, lifted a hand, and quenched the holy fire that held Gabriel captive. "You are not to meddle in my life any longer, Gabriel."

"Cassie, just let it go. It was a one time thing." Gabriel shook his head and crossed his arms. "You know what, you need to chill out. Take a cruise to Calaocan and calm down. Or go to Antartica for a breather, I know how much you enjoy the colder areas." Castiel remained quiet, but continued to cast glares at Gabriel. "Fine, I'll let you live your life without my interference. Just...go talk to him sometime soon. He's kinda holding out on you."

"I will go speak with him when I deem fit."

"Now you just sound like a teenager. 'It's my life, mom, I do what I feel like doing when I feel like doing it'." Gabriel mocks in a nasally voice. "Go get that chucklehead and I'll go get mine."

* * *

"What is that?" Sam enters Dean's room and looks down at the furball on his bed.

"It's a cat, Sam."

"What is this, separation anxiety?" Sam runs a hand over his face and shoots Dean Bitch Face #12. "If you want Cas, just call him down. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."

Dean glares at his brother. "If anything, this is separation anxiety from Beans, not Castiel. And stop calling him 'Cas', it's weird that you've given them nicknames. They're Angels apparently and you're trying to get all buddy-buddy with the guys. I'm not okay with that." He shakes his head and scratches behind his cat's ears.

"So...what his name?" Sam gestures to the cat.

"Her name is Callie."

"Way too close to Callie...Cassie...Cas...Castiel…thinking of anyone lately, Dean?" Sam smirks at Dean and looks down at the cat. "I didn't even know you like cats. I never took you as a cat-person." Sam sighs.

"I like cats. They're furry and I can cuddle with them." Dean glances over at the time and curses. "Crap, I've gotta go."

"Again?" Sam barely manages to step aside as Dean pushes past him. "You just had a shift two days ago."

"Two days ago." Dean emphasises. "I'll be back in a few days. I've got a forty-eight hour shift this time." He's just ready to go when Sam places a hand on his shoulder.

"Be careful, Dean."

"I will be, Sammy." He gives his little brother a reassuring smile and heads out.

Dean had only openly admitted it once when before he became one, but he had always wanted to be a firefighter. He was kind of forced into the life of a hunter. The demons and ghosts and shifters, doppelgangers, all those sonsabitches had ruined his childhood. But now at age thirty-one, he wasn't just going to let his life go. But man, did he need the thrill. Some boring desk job just couldn't do it for him.

So, Dean wanted excitement, but two Angels, one pining for him, one pining for his brother, wasn't what he had in mind. He's pretty sure he's constantly being watched and that's pretty uncomfortable. Sam had gotten pretty damn close to Gabriel. Probably because Sam had always been into the God-scene…

With a sigh, Dean climbs up the stairs to the L and pays on his CTA card. A forty-eight hour shift. It's his turn to cook that night. Burgers sounded like a good idea. Provolone cheese and sauteed mushrooms. And bacon. Can't forget the bacon. Great, now he's hungry. Once he'd had an eighteen hour shift and that was nice, but it only happened once.

He leans against one of the poles extending from floor to ceiling for the passengers that remain vertical and commences staring out of the window. Cas pops into his head and he desperately tries to shove him out. The fact that he was turned on by some nerd-Angel just kind of shot through him painfully and southbound. It must have been those fucking wings. They had done something to him. Something...awful. He'd had his fair share of male-on-male procreation, but recreation, and at bars, and he didn't think about it later. But this...this is never fucking ending. All he does is think about the guy with the bright blue eyes and sex-hair and chapped lips and that's it. Ever since that night in Sears Tower, all he's wanted to do is screw the guy into his mattress and mark him with bites and-

Dean gets off the L and decides to walk the rest of the way. Fresh air would do him good, besides, it was just a couple of blocks away. He walks south and then west and then walks straight into the station. To distract himself from Castiel, he hums Ramble On by Led Zeppelin until he gets to his station.

Cole's leaning against one the rigs while he polishes the knob. Th-the water nozzle.

"You okay, Dean? You look like shit." Cole sets down the nozzle and looks at Dean quizzically. "Maybe you're allergic to cats."

Dean shakes his head. "No, I'm not. I'm just...it's nothing."

"Ooh…" Cole smirks and goes back to cleaning the nozzle. "You're in love."

"No way in hell am I in love with that dick." Dean protests loudly and drops his bag. He reaches down to pick it up only to drop his phone and then his wallet and just about everything he's holding. He stands up straight and looks at his things with such distaste, Cole felt certain that all of his belongings were just going to combust.

"Wow...calm your tits, Dean. I'm sure she feels the same way about you."

"Cas doesn't think I'm a dick." Dean starts picking up his stuff and places them in pockets so they wouldn't fall away again. "Fuck. I mean Castiel. You know what." Dean points at Cole with his phone. "Forget it. I'm gonna go drop my shit off in my room and clock in and just forget everything for the next forty-eight hours."

"I think you should tell this Cas-person how you feel." Cole shouts after Dean as he goes up the stairs and into the fire house.

This is starting to get just a little ridiculous. Dean doesn't dig Castiel. So what if he's kinda sexy? That didn't mean anything. Dude's creepy. He slips into the room he shares with Milo and sets all of his stuff down. He's a bit early, but usually Milo would be there already. He's probably in the kitchen. Checking the calendar on the wall, he makes sure what day it is. Friday is Cardio-Day/Dean cooks dinner day. Speaking of...He makes his way into the kitchen and checks supplies. Five pounds of ground beef, ketchup, mustard, onions, some mushrooms, among other things. No bacon though. He pouts at that.

Forty-eight hour shift, complete with running today and cooking tonight and cleaning tomorrow and saving people. But not hunting things. No longer in the family business.

* * *

Dean must have been going out of his mind with exhaustion. It isn't as though they aren't allowed to sleep during long shifts like this, he just couldn't sleep. His body just wouldn't let him. So when Castiel appears in the kitchen while he's cleaning up after dinner, Dean is pretty sure he's lost his mind.

"Hello, Dean." Castiel, the all-knowing Angel says with his holier-than-all air.

But Dean isn't having any of it. "What the hell, man? I'm at work. And if you haven't noticed, now isn't the best time."

At that, Castiel only tilts his head to the side and watches as Dean cleans off the pans that his burgers had been in. "Of course, Dean. You look very busy."

Dean stops cleaning for a moment and looks over his shoulder at Cas. "Was that...was that _sarcasm_?" He shakes his head, amused. "And here I was thinking that you don't know the meaning of the word."

"Of course I know the meaning of sarcasm. I'm always aware of many of its synonyms." Cas does that head tilt of his and frowns. "I am here to speak to you about the other night in Willis Tower."

"Don't call it that in front of Sam. He'll have a bitch fit."

"This conversation has little to do with Sam." It's just Dean's luck when Cole walks into the kitchen and looks over Castiel.

"Hello." He sends Dean a saucy wink. "Who's this, Deanie?"

"I'm Castiel." Cas nods in greeting, but misses how Cole's eyes grow wide and then dart to Dean.

"Castiel, huh? _The_ Castiel?" Cole takes a few steps closer, but leaves ample amounts of space between himself and the other two.

Castiel blinks. "Dean has spoken about me?" And if that didn't sound just a little hopeful, Dean doesn't know what does.

"Inconceivable, Wesley, I know."

"I don't understand that reference." Castiel, ever-stoic, just about pouts.

"It's a classic, if you haven't seen that, where were you?" Cole is barely containing his laughs. "Oh, Dean. Man, I had no idea. Now that I do...I'm never letting this down."

"Damnit, Cole. Just...let it go."

Castiel drops his eyes to the floor and sighs. "I don't understand what either of you are saying right now. Perhaps I should come back…"

"Nope!" Cole smiles. "No, sweetheart, you two can just talk to each other and maybe when Dean's shift is over, you can procreate."

Even Castiel has the good grace to look embarrassed. "I feel that won't happen tomorrow."

"Maybe later." Cole giggles and winks at Dean again. "You two love birds enjoy your time together and I'll leave you to it." After that, he retreats out of the room with a smirk.

Dean is fuming silently as he finishes cleaning the kitchen. No matter what he did, Dean couldn't get away from Castiel. Not during a hunt, not during work, not sleeping, not anything.

"Dean…"

"Don't, man." Dean is desperately trying to ignore all of his bodily reactions from just being close to Cas. "You know," he turns around and leans against the counter. "What are you even doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you about what happened."

"Yeah, Gabriel's a dick, he turned you into a cat, and we slept together frequently. I get it. Let it go. Let's not talk about it." Dean really doesn't want to talk about it. The whole situation is just royally fucked up.

"Why are you so against speaking to me? Sam has warmed up to Gabriel rather well." Dean rolls his eyes and tosses his hands in the air. Castiel only watches.

"Sam and I aren't the same guy if you haven't noticed. Sam's always been into the whole God scene."

"I realise that you two are quite different."

"Then why are you here?"

"To apologise. I should have alerted you immediately after being changed to a feline. I didn't want to feel like I was interfering with your life…"

Dean shakes his head. "It's not your fault." The words are out before he can stop them. "Whatever, the point is that it isn't all that important anymore. I don't know what you're expecting of me right now."

Castiel remains silent as he steps forward and invades Dean's personal space. Dean looks down at then up, nerves on edge at them being so close. "Dean Winchester, the Righteous Man." Cas' voice is just above a whisper and it shoots sparks down Dean' spine. "You are beautiful." Their bodies press flush and Dean's breath stops. His eyes trail down to Castiel's lips, and he knows exactly what he's craving.

As their lips grow closer, Dean lets his eyes shut, his fingers clench and unclench on that ridiculous trench coat. Castiel would have been one of those guys that Dean would have gotten with during those years without Sam. Blue eyes, dark hair, thin physique, fucking beautiful.

Their lips barely brush against each other when the alarm goes off. Castiel's eyes widen in shock and then he vanishes, leaving Dean panting and hot.

_What the hell?_

* * *

_A/N: Well that escalated quickly. Oh man...that was way longer than I thought it was going to be. I just kept writing and then I go so excited. Yum. Chapter eight is gonna have some stuff that you'll like hopefully maybe. Sorry, I'm currently watching The End right now, and I'm full of feels and super distracted. Please review, my lovelies. More reviews means more chapters._


	9. Chapter 8

_A/N: Just kidding. I'm on a roll. So I've been ignoring Samsquatch and our favourite Archangel, so...how about some Sabriel, sweeties? No? Yes? Yes! Okay! Yes it is! Sabriel, you sexies :3 (Also, as a sad side note, I was just diagnosed with tendinitis and carpal tunnel, so slower updates. I'M SO SORRY!)_

* * *

Sam sets down his pencil after his exam and just leans back and stares at the wall. He did it. He finished his finals. Hell Week is over. No more unhealthy bouts of coffee. He stands up and hands his test in. He leaves the lecture hall thirty minutes before test time is over and heads straight home. All he wants is to sleep and relax.

"Heya, Sammy!" Gabriel appears out of nowhere and matches Sam's stride towards the L.

"Not now. All I want to do is sleep."

"We can do that. We don't have to go home though. I've thought of somewhere way better." Gabriel stops in front of Sam and holds him by the forearms.

"Sleep, Gabriel. Not sex."

"I know. It's just...your brother is a little pissy right now, so he might wake you up. So…come with me? You have to say yes. And I'll let you sleep as much as you want."

"There's gotta be a trick involved, right?" Sam asks warily. "Like when I wake up, you're going to molest me and demand sex."

"I'm not evil." Gabriel pouts. "I just want you to be comfortable. So! Shall we?"

Sam shrugs his shoulders. "But only because you said I can sleep."

* * *

Sam doesn't know what he's feeling the instant he wakes up, but comfort has to be high on his list. And warm. Really, really warm. He blinks his eyes open and takes in his surroundings. Or, at least, he would have if Gabriel's face wasn't two inches away.

"You are adorable when you sleep, you know that, Sammy? I almost couldn't contain myself." Sam doesn't know why, but he doesn't feel at all uncomfortable with Gabe infesting his personal space.

"Where are we?" Sam turns onto his other side to look out the window. "No freaking way…" Sam's been international before. A week ago with Gabriel. And never before that. And he couldn't get over the view. The Eiffel Tower was there. Just there. Sam could see it.

"I thought you'd like Paris. You know the City of Love."

"It's Lights."

"Close enough." Gabriel wraps his arm around Sam's waist and nuzzles his face into the hunter's back.

"What are you doing?"

"Hugging you."

"Huh." Sam considers for a moment. "Okay." He really doesn't mind the more he thinks about it. "Do you think Cas and Dean got together?"

"Destiel like destiny." Gabriel chuckles to himself and then squeezes Sam a little tighter. "How did exams go?" He really doesn't want to talk about brothers. He'd had his fill of brothers to last a lifetime or...well, hundreds of lifetimes, really.

"Well. I'm sure I aced all of them."

"Of course you did, you're a genius." Gabriel presses his lips to the back of Sam's neck and then bites a little.

Sam sits up at that doing his best to hide his blush. He clears his throat. "Okay. So I've never been to Paris before. What's there to do?"

"Oh so much. Food, shopping, sight seeing, making love, going to the movies, flipping through books, the Lourve, the Eiffel Tower, _Le_ _Champs d'Ellyssee_, _et_ _cetera_. I know which one I wanna do." Gabriel wiggles his eyebrows at Sam as he, too, sits up. Sam only sighs. "Oh, c'mon, Sammy. I know you wanna try having sex with an Archangel. I've heard I'm good."

"Time, Gabriel." Sam reminds him, pressing a small kiss to his cheek. "I'm gonna go wash up."

"We've officially gotten further than our brothers."

"Their cuddling does count. Cas was a cat." Sam laughs as he goes into the bathroom. He isn't sure what made him kiss Gabriel, but the more he thinks about it, the more he knows he just doesn't mind. The biting though. The biting bothers him. In a kind of tingly, sexy way.

* * *

Dean returns home, dead tired and ready to keel over. Callie is sitting on his sofa, purring as soon as he walks in. "Hey, baby. How's it goin'?" She doesn't answer of course, merely presses her head closer into Dean's hand when he pets her.

_Shower_… Dean doesn't even bother grabbing clothes first. He just heads straight into the bathroom, strips, and hops in. He's sure he's covered in soot from that morning's fire and then he'd had diving training the night before. But now he's got a few days off, and he wants to enjoy them. Sam is off somewhere. Probably studying. And Castiel is...Dean stops lathering his body and freezes. Castiel...they kissed. Kind of. They kind of kissed. And if that doesn't give Dean a boner now that he's thinking about it, it's probably the hot water. He turns towards the faucet and turns it down to ice cold.

He sighs and lets his throbbing member relax and sink back into a placid state of being. Dean exhales a false release and leans against the bath area wall and slumps against it.

He's half-tempted to call down Castiel and just kiss him again, just to have the experience of having a real kiss. And...since it takes two to have real, hardcore sex-no. He's tired. That's it.

Or so he thought. Even after sleeping and eating and staring at the television for an hour, the thought of Castiel beneath him, wings spread, teeth biting shamelessly at his neck, is still haunting Dean. That's all he wants. Just once to try having sex with an Angel.

"I am not one of those one night stands, Dean." Castiel appears between him and the television, which promptly shuts off.

Dean's body goes on red alert and he feels that familiar clenching in his chest and down below. "Hey, Cas. What've you been up to?"

"Thinking." Castiel walks around Dean's living room and soaks in the surroundings. "Just so you know, Dean, it is not my intention to illicit sex from you, though it can happen."

Dean sits up straight and covers his mouth with a fist while he coughs. "Damnit, Cas, you can't just say shit like that." He rises to his feet and steps around the coffee table.

"Why not?"

"Because...it gets certain people...uhm…" Words are escaping conman Dean Winchester.

"Aroused." Castiel supplies. "And by 'certain people'," finger quotes. "You mean 'person'," more finger quotes. "Namely you." Cas had taken the liberty whilst talking, to take closer steps towards Dean until he is invading his personal space.

Dean remains silent while that transpires. "Look, Cas, I don't know what you're expecting of me."

"I've learned in my experiences among humans that nicknames are usually given to people when they are...interested?" Castiel tests the word on his lips and looks up at Dean. "Would you say you agree with that statement?"

Dean can't concentrate on anything except for the breath that hits his lips with every word Cas speaks. With their close proximity and their half-kiss coming to his mind, he can't help but not think. All he wants to do is lean forward and kiss him senseless.

"Dean." Cas snaps him back to the present. Is that a smirk on his face? Son of a bitch can read minds. "Yes. I can." Case in point.

"You need to not use that creepy Vulcan mind meld thing." That earns him a head tilt. And damn himself if Dean just wants to kiss him now.

"I'm not sure I understand what that means."

"It means stay out of my head, Cas."

Castiel leans forward and looks at Dean with narrowed eyes. "You are but one man, Dean Winchester, I am an Angel of the Lord. Do not think you are above me."

"Alright, alright. Calm down, chuckles. We both know you can smite me in an instant." Dean almost shrank away from Cas, but he didn't. He couldn't stop craving being closer.

"I'm not going to smite you, Dean." Castiel's expression softens as he leans back again.

Dean internally says _fuck it_ and chases Cas' lips as he pulls away. Finally, finally, finally, he presses their lips together and releases an exhale of relief. He doesn't miss how Cas freezes up beneath him, so he pulls away. At first, Dean thinks he's doing something wrong considering Cas is frowning.

But when he's grabbed and pushed against a wall, Dean simply melts into the kiss and grips onto the lapels of Cas' trenchcoat. It feels as though everything both of them have been holding back is coursing through their kiss. Wandering hands that grip and grope and tug. Cas' hands are in Dean's hair, practically petting him. Tongues press and lick. Dean pulls out of the kiss and notices Cas' glare, but places bites intermittent with kisses down the Angel's throat. Cas lets out what can only be considered a moan and Dean pulls away completely to take in Castiel's expression.

Eyes half-lidded, his pupils are blown with lust, his lips parted and wet, his breath ragged and in pants. Dean runs a hand down to Castiel's waist and feels him lean closer into him. Their hardnesses rub together and Dean gasps.

Then suddenly, all pressure against him is gone. Castiel is a few feet away, looking at Den with an absolutely terrified expression. "I have go." And that voice. But Dean can't dwell on it for too long, because Cas has left completely.

* * *

"Hey, bro-whoa…" Gabriel and Sam are sitting in the penthouse when Castiel shows up. "Don't you look positively fuckable."

Sam is staring, wide-eyed and confused. "You were making out with my brother…" Disbelief is what Sam is mainly feeling.

"Sam, we make an amazing couple." Gabe leans against Sam's arm and smiles. "Look at what we did for them."

Sam ignores him. "Did he push you away?"

Castiel only shakes his head and then sits down on the coffee table. "No...I pushed him away."

"What?" Both Sam and Gabe exclaim, but Gabriel continues. "What the hell, Cassie? He's finally letting you in and this is what you do? We worked so hard to get you together."

Cas frowns and leans his chin in his hands. "For Dean, this is a spur of the moment reaction. Perhaps tomorrow he will realise the err in his actions and change his mind tomorrow."

"And if he keeps wanting you?" Sam asks.

"Then...I feel he will take what I give…"

"Damn, you're in love." Gabriel falls silent when Castiel locks eyes with him. For several moments all they do is stare. Sam watches, transfixed and they wordlessly communicate. It's incredible, really. Then Gabriel stares at Sam with such intensity that the hunter shifts uncomfortably until Gabe goes back to staring Cas.

"Thank you, brother." Castiel vanishes.

"What the hell was that all about?" Sam turns to Gabriel only o have the Arhangel lay his head in his lap.

"I think we should come up with a name for our relationship. Something like that band...The Sex Pistols. How about...The Fuck Shotguns?" Sam gives him a blank look from above. "Fine, Sabriel it is. I still prefer Fuck Shotguns."

"First off, I don't _fuck_. Second, what happened with Cas?" Sam wants to know more about the situation he'd landed himself in just a few moments ago. Rather, that Castiel had landed in and then somehow included Sam. Point is, Sam had been included.

"Ooh, Sammy makes love, right?" Sam isn't having any of Gabriel's shit. "Fine. Cas is worried that if he gives himself to Dean, he's gonna be treated as another one-night stand. And my dear brother can't handle that. And, I need to tell you, he's never been in love before. We've been together for millenia and, "Gabriel rolls his head and looks incredulous. "He's never so much as looked at any human or angel with a gram of how he looks at Dean. So...yeah, he's scared."

Sam blinked. "Dean knows when someone feels something. He wouldn't just break their hearts or something like that over a one-night stand. He'd decline and then go find someone else." He shakes his head. "I know he's a dick, but he's not that much of a dick."

Gabriel gave him an _I-Know-Right_ look. "And that's what I told Cas. Now!" He claps his hands together. "Enough brotherly sex talk."

"But we weren't-"

"Sex talk." Gabriel emphasises. "Let's go get some salad." He can't help but laugh at the hopeful look that Sam's face had taken on. "You're too adorable. You thought...you thought i was serious! You looked so happy!" Sam is giving Gabriel _Bitch Face #1_. "Oh, just kidding, babe. Let's go get some health food."

Gabriel sits up, grabs Sam's face in both of his hands, and kisses him. And _Poof!_ they're gone.

* * *

_A/N: Mmkay...so I finished this last part after a nine-hour work day, on old meds, and on the bus. I'm still kinda sick, my lovelies, and I'm stock full of lettuce wraps and earl grey and more cold stuff and my head feels funny. And my feet hurt. And now I'm rambling about my ails because of...y'know, I have no idea. And I just finished _Flowers for Algernon_so ...I'm sad. But this makes me happy. Knowing I'm writing for you! Please review (not on my rambling) and lemme know if I suck or not. Cause that would suck if i suck and you'd be stuck reading this garbage. And I'm sorry for that. But why are you still reading, Dear Listeners. Is it because the City Council told you to? Am I not supposed to mention it? I will stop mentioning what must be never mentioned again._

_Sorry. I love all of you! And I'm sorry I'm a total loon right now. Next chapter's author's note will be not as stupid. Okay. I love you. Pyxie xx_


	10. Chapter 9

_A/N: Remember when I promised that I would be less loony this time? Well...I'm starting this on the same day and I just watched Season 8's Gag Reel, so...my brain is still very much confused. So...at work we have these flashlights in the shape of animals and they're hand-powered and make duck sounds with every squeeze. I think I'm gonna use that soon. We also sell giant pencils, sofas, candles, glittery pumpkins, spider rings, and Buddhas. Okay! I hope you like this chapter, I just too more medicine heeheehee Also! I need you all to know that I was just diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel and Tendonitis, so slower updates. AND! MORE! This is going to be a really long story and in about two or three chapters all of you are really going to hate me and I'm so sorry.. -Pyxie xx_

* * *

"Get up, bitch!" Dean pushes Sam out of bed and hands him the Demon Ganker (the knife). "Also, I decided that we should name this knife Sting."

Sam looks up at Dean from the floor incredulously. Oh man, Cas has gotten him all riled up. And for that reason, and that reason alone, Sam didn't tackle Dean to the floor. "Wait...like _Lord of the Rings_' Sting?"

"Yep. Now, come one. We've got work to do."

One day of relaxation. Just one, that was all Sam had hoped that he would get after finals. But no, he got less than twenty-four hours of relaxation. Granted, he got his time with Gabriel down in Quito and before that Paris and before that Venice. He picks himself off the floor and heads into the bathroom. While Dean gets them ready for whatever the hell is about to happen, Sam sends a silent prayer to Gabriel.

_Hey, Gabe, it's me. Don't come down here. I just wanted to let you know that Dean is forcing me out on a hunt. And I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Cas. So...if you want to interfere in some way or another-although not in a way that'll get us killed-please do so. Sam._

Satisfied with that, Sam strips and gets into the shower. He wants to take his time. He really does, but with Dean banging on the door and rushing him, he can't. With a sigh, Sam finishes rinsing out his hair and climbs out. Suddenly, a naked Gabriel appears in front of him and covers his mouth his hand.

"Shh...don't freak out. I just wanted to pop in and say, aren't you a sexy human?" Gabriel kisses down the expanse of Sam's chest and presses their bodies close together. "I just wanted to give you a little taste of what it would be like with me." Sam shudders as Gabriel bits and nibbles and licks his collarbone and neck. "How I'd like to make sweet love to you right here...right now."

Sam closes his eyes and leans heavily against the bathroom sink. He almost wants Gabriel to just whisk him off and let them spend the night together, but Dean needs him. "Gabe...please…" Sam is desperately trying not think about how hard he's getting.

"How about a parting gift? But first." Gabriel snaps his fingers. "Soundproofing. Let's hear that sexy voice of yours, Sammy." Gabe goes down to his knees in front of Sam.

For a moment, Sam forgets that the man in front of him is actually an Archangel. His thoughts snap off when he feels Gabe's tongue flick out and lick his aching hardness. A moan is forced out of Sam's throat as he feels the Angel swallow him down completely. That hot tongue that swirls around the tip, those teeth that graze up and down his shaft, those lips that kiss all the right places. Sam is a panting, moaning, sweating mess by the time he feels his orgasm coming.

"Gabe...It's...I'm…" All coherent thoughts have escaped him. But Gabriel gets it and pulls back to suck and nibble on the tip. The Angel moans a bit and that sends shocks up and down Sam's body as he pushes forward towards to get into more of that wet heat. The orgasm ripples through him as he moans. The aftershocks send little spasms through his body as he empties out into Gabriel's mouth.

"See? I'm not too bad, huh." Gabriel stands himself up.

"We-" Sam clears his throat when he realises just how husky its gotten. "We haven't even had a proper kiss yet." He leans forward and presses their lips together gently, savouring the feeling of lips touching lips and tongues rubbing against each other, and the small moans from both of them.

When Gabriel pulls away, his face is flushed and his skin is glistening. Whether it's from the heat from the shower or their sexy activities, he's pretty hot. "My, my...Sam Winchester is quite the kisser. I might just fall for you here and now."

"Time." Sam doesn't sound as sure of himself with that word as he had in the past.

"Of course. Then we'll consummate our love in the throes of passion in the fading sunlight of the Tahitian sun." Gabriel presses a kiss to Sam's lips, gently, softly. "Until then, my Samsquatch, _ciao bello_."

Gabriel vanishes, leaving Sam kind of cold now that a certain Archangel is no longer there to keep him warm.

Dean is driving. Something that he hasn't been able to do much since he got to Chicago. But they aren't even staying in the city for this case. Sam is still blissed out from earlier activities and it seems as though Dean hadn't heard any of it.

"Dean…" Sam speaks quietly and slowly, not ready for an explosion from his brother. "Where are we going?"

"Yorkville. It's out in bumfuck nowhere. Closest city is Aurora twenty miles away." They're on I-88, driving away from the Dan-Ryan. Probably better that way. Traffic is a bitch all the time.

"What are we up against? Do you know?" Sam looks over Dean as he drives. It's pretty obvious that Castiel has him around his little finger. He's sure that if Cas makes an appearance right now, they would turn back to Chicago and Sam would vanish off with Gabriel somewhere. But he doesn't, so they don't.

"Part of research, Sammy. We'll be staying the Sunset Motel. Apparently it was in some movie or somethin' like that." They're driving west. And for a moment, it almost feels like when they had been searching for their dad a couple of years ago. Almost. Minus the angst, minus the tension.

"Any clues so far?" Sam is fully inspecting his brother now. Even though Dean is under a strange kind of stress, he still seems far happier than he had ever been since their mom died. So it goes.

"Well...no." Dean sighs and continues driving. Not that he would stop, they were on the tollway. "But! I'm thinking it's a wraith. A lot of dead people in the nursing home."

"It's a nursing home, Dean."

"Will you just trust me on this." The rest of the trip is made is silence until Dean puts on Zeppelin and starts singing to_ Travelling Riverside Blues_. Sam looks out the window and watches as the building clear and make way for the trees and eventual countryside.

Yorkville, Illinois. Population 8,216 the sign says. Home to the Fighting Foxes. Dean drives just past Downtown Yorkville and into a parking lot for Silver Dollar Diner. Yorkville reminds Sam of the little towns where they would usually hunt for wendigos or check out crop circles. There's a group of noisy teenagers in the corner booth and they instantly pick out Sam and Dean when they walk in.

"Afternoon, boys." An older woman approaches them with a smile and a Southern accent. "Just the two of you today?"

Sam nods yes and tries to ignore the stares from the teenagers. "Dean…" He stares after they sit down. "This place gives me the creeps."

Dean looks around and catches a stare from a blond girl in a hoodie who instantly looks away. She leans forward and whispers conspiratorially at her friends. They all look over at the brothers with judging stares.

"Yeah, I get the same feeling."

A waitress pops up next to them. "Don't mind them. They're just trying to figure out if you're together or not." Her dark hair is pulled up haphazardly and held up with a pen. She has bags under her eyes and she glares at the teenagers in the corner who quickly look away. "Coffee?"

Sam looks at her. "How do you know that?"

"How, indeed?" She snorts. "I'm sorry. I've just never seen you around before and neither have they. And. Ugh. I go to school with them." She rolls her grey eyes and pulls out a pad and different pen. "Don't be surprised if Kylie comes up to ask you if you're gay. She's the one with blonde hair. Oh wait." She laughs. "They all look the same."

"You really don't like them." Dean watches her in fascination. "Wow, what'd they ever do to you?"

"They call me the Godless Communist. It's incorrect. I'm a Deist and I'm a Socialist. And they're popular." She adds as a side note. "So I'm Em and I'll be your server today."

Dean leans forward and looks her over. "What do you know about the recent deaths in the nursing home?" Sam looks over to give him a scolding of some sort, but she actually answers.

"Honestly, they're pretty messed up. The coroners are saying it was 'their time'. But it wasn't." Em looks over Dean and Sam. "What makes you so interested?" Her defences are up now.

"Nothing...it's just that...our grandpa was there and he was hunting just a year ago and now he's dead." The lie flows off his Dean's tongue so fluidly that it's hard for Sam to believe that he's got an honest living now.

"Oh, I'm sorry. But honestly, I think there's something up with the meds in there. I've got a friend who works there weekends and he tells me the system is messed up." Em twirls her pen. "Right. So are you gonna order something now...or should I come back?" She glances over at the teenagers who are now glaring sharp swords and needles at her.

"Uhm…" Sam finally speaks up. "Could you give us a few minutes?" Em nods and walks off, sticking her pen in her hair.

"She knows something. And she really wants to piss off those girls-" Dean cuts himself off when he notices one of the teenagers walking to their table. Damnit, Em was right.

"I never thought she'd leave." Despite being in the Northern Midwest, the girl speaks with a Valley GIrl drawl. "So, like, my girls and I were talking, you know, and we were wondering...if maybe you're dating. And if not, can I have your number?" Sam and Dean share a look.

"Uh, no. We're brothers. And no, Moon Unit Zappa, you're just hitting your preteens." Sam covers up his laugh by drinking some water and Dean turns away from her as she stalks off, muttering about how she's seventeen and obviously mature for her age. "Jesus, we need to get out of this place as soon as possible."

"Hey, you brought us here." Sam runs his fingers through his hair and chuckles. "Oh, man. I actually miss Chicago now." He glances down at his menu and makes his decision.

Em walks back up to them, a smirk on her face. "So. Did she ask?"

"Yeah, you know them too well." Sam shakes his head as she laughs.

"I've only been here for a year, but they are so transparent. No depth, just alcohol, sports, and sex." She pulls a pen from her hair, but it's the wrong one and her hair comes down in messy block locks to her clavicle. She makes an irritated face and a small sound like a dying duck.

Dean raises his eyebrows in shock. Whether it's at how unassumingly pretty she is with her hair down, or if it's the sound she just made, he doesn't know. She's trying hard to pull it back up, but it just isn't working, so she frowns and leaves it there. "Right. So! Brunch, lunch, whatever time it is. What's tickling your fancy for a meal?"

"I'll have pancakes and a side of bacon."

"I'll have your house salad." Em blinks at Sam for a moment and then shakes her head.

"I hate to tell you this, but you are one strange fellow." She smiles at them, curtsies, and then heads back to put in their orders.

"Alright. So a wraith." Sam scratches his head. "So we'll need silver and a mirror."

"Don't jump the gun, Sammy. We gotta go check out their brains first."

* * *

When they leave, Em is staring at them with eyes narrowed in amusement. At least those annoying teenagers in the corner had left them alone though. Sam and Dean hop into the Impala and head over to the Sunset Motel, change and head to the nursing home.

The receptionist at the front desk is fiddling with his phone and hardly spares them a glance when they walk in. "Hi. What can I do for you today?" Well, he sounds less than enthusiastic.

Dean shares a look with Sam before speaking up. "We're with the FBI, we're going to need to see the bodies of the recently deceased."

"Down the hall, sirs." The boy points backwards without taking his eyes off the phone.

As they walk away, Dean scoffs. "At least we know who isn't the wraith. Kids today with their texting and scones."

Sam chuckles, but lets Dean rant. "Wait, was that a _Doctor Who_ reference?"

"Shut up."

They walk through the doors to the nursing home morgue. A man in a lab coat is standing over one of the bodies of the recently deceased. Presumably for an autopsy.

"Hey, Doc. I'm Agent Sullivan, and this is my partner, Agent Wazowski. We'd like to ask you a few questions." They flash their badges.

The doctor turns around, his blue eyes wide with worry. And for a second, those blue eyes remind Dean of Castiel. His stomach clenches and he takes in a deep breath. The memory of the kiss rushes through his mind and it replays over and over in his head. And then those wings pop in and he just-

"Did you notice anything weird about the residents before they died?" Dean forces himself to speak and stay calm, but with those memories it's getting harder to be able to.

"Well…" The coroner, Dr. Jeff Reska, sighs. "All of them reported feelings of being watched at night. But of course, they're all under surveillance all the time. They're old, we gotta keep an eye on them. But they seemed so...scared. Everyone just thought that it was their fear of death, but that didn't seem right."

"Why not?" Sam takes a look around the sterile room.

"Well, Jenkins here was an old man who just couldn't wait to die. So...I took a peek." Jeff wrings his hands and looks around excitedly. "I wanted to check Jenkins here for schizophrenia or something like that. Certain enlarged parts of the brain, so on and so forth. Well…" He walks around the table and grabs an x-ray. "His brain...melted. Goo. Slop. Charred. Gone." Jeff shakes his head furiously and then plops down in a chair. "Yorkville doesn't get weird things like this. Our most exciting news is high school graduation and the homecoming parade and our invisible corn crops every fall."

Sam and Dean share a look. "Alright, we're gonna have to look into the brains of the other vi-people." Dean clears his throat at his mix-up and turns to Sam and speaks quietly so Jeff can't hear them. "Wraith, Sam. We gotta a wraith and we gotta get silver."

"No need. I already chopped all their skulls open." Jeff spins around and grins. "All slop and all black and charred. Like a burger."

Sam raises his eyebrows and then it hits him. _Gabriel_. Jeff winks at him when Dean isn't looking. Oh shit...Sam can't hide his surprise and Dean looks at him like he's crazy.

"What goin' on with you, Mike?"

"Yeah, it's just that...wow...charred brains, you know."

Jeff-Gabriel licks his lips at Sam and damn if that doesn't remind him of earlier that morning. "I'm aware that this is pretty messed up, but I'll let you know if there's anything else that pops up."

Dean nods and fixes his suit jacket. He and Sam leave the building altogether and walk out to the Impala.

"Something is super off about that guy. I say we come by after hours and search his office."

(Later that Evening)

"Alright, let's get this over with." Dean picks the lock to the side of the nursing home and opens the door quietly. It's empty. The small sound of footsteps echoing through the corridor is coming from a ways off. Dean pulls out his flashlight and casts Sam a weary gaze. "Don't even think about fucking judging me."

Sam raised his eyebrows and his mouth drops open. "Dean, what the hell is that?" He looks at the flashlight in Dean's hands. It's in the shape of the duck. "Does it even work?"

"Yeah, it works...it just…" Dean indicates to the squeezable handle and sighs. As he squeezes it, it makes a small quacking noise and light comes out of the end of it. Sam covers his mouth to keep the laughter in, but fails miserably at Dean's expression of horror. "Shut the fuck up, bitch."

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Where the hell did you get that?" Sam can already take a guess, but hearing Dean's side of the story is so worth it.

"Every fucking time I would grab a goddamn flashlight, it would turn into a fucking animal. And then make fucking animal noises." Dean squeezes it again and the light illuminates the corridor. "There was a fucking cow. And a then and then, as if it couldn't get any fucking worse, there was a fucking cat that looked just like kitty Cas." He takes his frustration out on the duck flashlight and that just about does it for Sam.

Sam bites his lip hard to keep from laughing and opens Reska's office. He can feel Dean glaring claws into his back, but he really couldn't care less. Gabriel sure knows how to make him laugh. He begins rifling through various drawers and cabinets, trying to find something.

"There's jack in here." Dean is looking over Jeff's desk as Sam leans casually against a wall. "Why the hell are you...aren't you not doing anything? Why aren't you doing anything?" Dean trips over his words and Sam shakes his head, still trying to get over the flashlights.

"That was Gabriel we were talking to this morning. This Jeff guy doesn't know anything. And if he does, we weren't talking to him. But we know we're fighting a wraith."

"You were planning on telling me that was Gabriel...when?" Dean puts the flashlight down and rises to his full height. "I mean, if you wanna get all buddy buddy with a dick, that's fine, Sam. That's...that's classy."

Sam rolls his eyes. "Dean, maybe you should just let go of that denial of yours. Gabe told me you used to sleeps with guys when I was off at Stanford." Dean visibly stiffens.

"We aren't having this conversation. We are on a hunt and we gotta keep our goddamn heads."

This isn't over. Sam knows that. He couldn't let it be over. He knows that Dean has a little thing going for Castiel and Sam's gonna make him talk about it.

* * *

_A/N: This chapter is SO LONG! I'm sorry. I just kept typing and then I realised things and was like, 'Oh, self, we need to end this chapter', hence the ending. Ergo, next chapter will be awesome. Complete with pie and sex. Actually, I don't know about the sex yet. Someone needs to have the sex. Also, this fanfiction is written by a virgin. So I'm not really sure what people say in the throes of passion. 'Oh, baby, I wanna feel you in me!' or 'You're so big!'. I'm sorry. I'm tired. In chapter 10, they'll still be in Yorkville. I used to live in Yorkville, and I hated it. I am basically Em, except I'm not pretty. I was called a Godless Communist and they would stick crosses and garlic on my locker. Yeah. That happened. OKAY! I LOVE YOU! Please review! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I tend to write better. -Pyxie xx_


	11. Chapter 10

_A/N: This is an author's note about you. And you were pleased, because you always wanted to read about yourself in an author's note. You read these words by this author you like and you think to yourself, 'Why the hell does she take so goddamn long to update? Ugh, what a bitch.' And then you read the chapter and smile because she's written something more. She's written chapter ten. Oh, happy day!_

* * *

Dean is sitting at one of the motel tables on Sam's laptop when Sam wakes up. "Dean, what the hell are you doing?"

"It's called research, Sammy. Why don't you get ready so we can kill this bitch. Also, I brought you breakfast." Dean waves his hand over to a bag without really looking up at Sam. It's pretty clear that Dean is still kind of pissed off at Sam for yesterevening, but that didn't stop him for not getting him brunch.

"Thanks, Dean. How thoughtful of you." At Sam's words, Dean wheels his head around in shock and blinks. Sam smirks and slips into the bathroom before Dean can say anything.

It doesn't takes too long for Sam to reemerge from the bathroom, but when he does, Dean is already packing their bags to kill the wraith. "You'll eat on the way. Hurry up, bitch."

"Don't rush me, jerk." Sam grabs his bag of whatever Dean decided to grab for him and follows his brother out of the door.

As soon as Sam open his mouth to say something while they're in the car, Dean turns on the music and turns it up, hardly sparing him a look. Sam wants to say something along the lines of 'Hey, how come we aren't doing this at night?' or 'Why have you turned into such an ass monkey?' You know, the usual. But no, no, Dean is just a dick. Like always.

The music gets shut off and a voice speaks up from the backseat. "I killed the wraith."

Dean swerves when he realises that Cas is sitting in the backseat. "Damnit, Cas!" Dean pulls into a random parking lot, turns out to be the Jewel Osco and turns around. "What the hell?"

"You are…" Castiel searches for the right word. "Displeased?"

"Yeah. Displeased." Dean sits back in his chair and glares at Cas through the rearview mirror.

"He really wanted to kill something." Sam chimes in.

"Shut up, bitch." Dean shuts off his baby and presses his forehead against the steering wheel. "Now what? What? I just go back to Chicago and go back to my diving training and sitting around waiting for a goddamn fire?"

"Don't blaspheme, Dean."

"Don't tell me what to do." Dean raises his head from the steering wheel and points at Castiel accusingly. "This is your fault."

"Dean-"

"Well...it seems like you two need some alone time...so I'll meet you back in Chicago, Dean." Sam leaves the car and sends a silent prayer up to Gabriel. _Gabe, you've gotta get me the hell out of here. The tension is overwhelming._ And just like that, he's gets whisked away to Barcelona.

Dean watches Sam vanish with a look of incredulousness. "Son of a _bitch_." He turns back on Baby and begins the drive back to his apartment. Cas switches to the passenger seat and stares out the window. Truthfully, Dean is surprised that Cas hadn't just disappeared like Sam did, but what the hell. He's an Angel. Angels get to do whatever the hell they feel like doing.

"That isn't necessarily true. Gabriel and I decided a long time ago that we have deserve free will." Castiel speaks up.

"What did I say about the Vulcan Mind Meld, Cas?" Dean is starting to feel irritated. Well, even more so than he had just a few moments ago.

"You said not to do it. But you were thinking so clearly, it was hard to miss." Damn that voice. Damn him and his lack of a soul all the way back up to Heaven.

"Shut up, Cas."

And for a while, they managed to drive in silence. However, the tension was insane. Castiel won't stop staring, and Dean kept turning up Pink Floyd to distract himself from Cas. But after twenty minutes of being stared at, Dean has had enough.

"Okay. What?"

"You called me Cas."

That hadn't been what Dean was expecting. "Dude, I've called you Cas before."

"But now you don't call me that begrudgingly." Cas stares out of the front windshield, attempting not to show his discomfort in front of Dean.

"You are…" Dean sighs and shakes his head. "No, I suppose I don't."

"You're angry with me."

"I'm pissed that I wasn't able to gank me a wraith. I just wanted to kill that bitch and then go back to my Ted Mosby life." Dean glances over at Cas only to see him doing that head tilt, cute, squinty eyed thing that he does so well. "It's a show." No reaction. "You seriously need to watch some television sometime, Cas. How long have you been earthbound?"

"Just over a millenium." Castiel sighs. "I have watched empires rise, then fall and burn. I've witnessed the genocide of millions on several occasions. Humanity's history would make quite the drama on any television network."

Dean snorts. "Well, that's usually the way it works. But some people will watch and then say 'too soon' even if it had happened centuries before." A thought crosses Dean's mind after a few moments of silence. "Why didn't you stop the genocides?"

"As a Seraph of Heaven, I was never one to interfere with the lives of humans, merely witness. That is not to say that I was not upset to see them murdering their own kind."

"It must have sucked. Not being able to do anything."

"It's a part of why I left."

"So you could help?"

Cas frowns and shakes his head. "No, Dean." He fixes the hunter with that soul crushing gaze. "I left so I wouldn't be forced to watch anymore. I began to doubt. God vanished and Heaven became anarchy."

"Well, I know a thing or two about absent fathers, so I get that you had to run off to save your sanity."

"We all wanted him to come back."

"Do you still?"

"Do you want your father to come back?" Dean shuts his mouth. "My point exactly." And with that, Castiel vanishes, leaving Dean to his thoughts.

As soon as Cas is gone, Dean is crushed by the feeling of loneliness that envelopes his car. No Sam, no Cas. Just him. He'd forgotten what it was like to be on his own even if only for a drive. Being alone with all of his thoughts with no distractions, save the road and radio. But even then, those aren't enough. The deep loneliness that Dean has been suppressing since Sam left for Stanford envelopes him and he knows it ridiculous because Sam is back and he's got his brother again. But then thoughts of his father's death hits him and then his mother's death and it feels like a vicious cycle and there's nothing he can do about it.

Within an hour, he's pulling into his apartment building's parking garage and climbing up the stairs to his apartment. Sam isn't back yet. Castiel is around. And it's just him. No work for a couple of days. So what is there to do other than relax? Dean grabs a beer and plops down on his sofa and turns on the television.

* * *

There's the thought of twisted tongues and wandering hands that passes through Dean's head again. It never stops. That perpetual loneliness is somehow momentarily satiated when Dean thinks of Castiel. But as soon as he banishes the thought, all feelings of loneliness come crashing back into him. And Sam's gone, to top it all off. Whisked off by that dickhead of an Angel. Well, Dean isn't home anyway. He got his friendly neighbour, Charlie, to look after his cat while he works his three-day shift.

Dean snaps back to reality and notices he's been standing in the locker room for so long it's actually empty now. His hair still smells of chloride and it's half-dry and sticking up in random places on his head. Just as Dean is started to head into the shower, Cole pops in.

"Hey, Deanie! Nothing like shower buddies, right?" Just who Dean wants to see. All the questions that Cole is going ask about Castiel and in the shower no less. "Come on, let's get naked!"

Dean sighs and follows after Cole and drops his towel. All of them had long since gotten over being weird around each other in the shower. It barely even phased them anymore. Actually, some times, group showers were fun. However, this is not going to be one of those times.

"So," Cole begins as soon as the water is going for both of their showers. "Tell me, is the combination of dark hair and blue eyes that gets to you? Because, if so, I want you to know I'm single." He winks and sends a kissy face over at Dean, who only rolls his eyes.

"You're out of your mind."

"Am I? I dunno, Dean. At least I call it like I see it. You dig the dude, go call the dude and get it on. Just…" Cole pauses to laugh a bit. "He shouldn't wear a trenchcoat with an ill-fitting suit. He has that freshly fucked look, you know."

"Cole, man…" Dean shakes his head and turns around to let his hair finish rinsing out. He hears the soft pattering of feet, but he just assumes that Cole's forgot something in his locker or something along those lines.

But he couldn't be more wrong.

He feels strong hands press against his back and thumbs massage gently into his shoulders. Dean stiffens, and disguises his gasp of pleasure for one of surprise. Cole's lips press against the back of his neck as his hands run lower and gently pull Dean's hips backwards until they're pressed flushed.

"Dean." When the hell did Cole's voice get so fucking sexy? "Have you ever had sex at work before?" Before Dean actually gets to answer, he's turned around and his back pressed against the cold tiles of the shower wall. Their lips press together, gentle, careful, as though any wrong move would make the other pull away. Dean wants to say that they shouldn't do this. Anyone could walk in on them, plus a fire could happen, plus they're coworkers, plus neither of them had actually shown interest in the other. But damn, with Cole's tongue gently licking his, Dean's thought process is pretty much shot.

Hot hands begins to wander, the spray of water still beating down on them. Dean pulls out of the kiss and starts to nibble down Cole's neck. His hand trails down to their hardening lengths and then the thought of Cas pops in his head and he just lets out this filthy moan. Cole breathes a swear against Dean's collarbone as he grinds himself against Dean. It's been so long since Dean has been touched like this; raw and purely needy. Small gasps and moans escape his lips as Cole moves faster against him. It's a surprise when his orgasm rips through him, a broken sound muffles by Cole's lips against his. Together they ride out their orgasm and their kisses become slower and less messy. Dean runs his fingers through Cole's hair and down the back of his neck.

"Cas is a lucky man." Cole chuckles and pulls away slightly to look at Dean with downcast eyes. "I get that this can never happen again. I know…"

Dean wants to say something, but all he can do is nod. Maybe he already knows how far gone he is on Cas, but just wouldn't admit it.

"You're a good man, Dean Winchester." For a little while longer, they stand pressed against each other, letting hot water run over them. Cole gives Dean's shoulder a squeeze and then leaves the showers. Not much after, Dean shuts off his shower and follows after. They don't really look at each other, just fleeting glances when the other isn't looking.

* * *

_A/N: So...I suck... I know. And again, I'm so sorry that took forever. It's my head canon that Dean is actually a very gentle lover and doesn't actually fuck, so yeah. And another thing: Chlorine does not go in pools because it's actually poisonous to humans and a gas (at room temperature), but chloride is a sterilising agent and a liquid and not poisonous.. It's this weird thing I have. Sorry! I hope you enjoyed the chapter -Pyxie xx_


	12. Chapter 11

ELEVEN

_A/N: You lovely people! Guess what! I'm totally high on my meds right now it's ridiculous and I'm watching Kick-Ass, so I'm a little...stuff and stuff. So...this will be like the bastard child of my writing skillz. Heads up for a lot of weird references and stuff and I dunno, just weird things will be happening in this chapter. I'll try to keep it short. This is also a really important chapter. As long as I can write. Hopefully, my brains will straighten themselves out as I continue writing and eating chicken noodle soup and ferrero rocher. Pyxie xx_

Since yesterday, Dean and Cole had been trying their hardest not to look at each other for too long. There is something about what they did that makes Dean feel dirty on the inside. It hadn't even been actual sex, but he still feels like he's cheated on Cas.

They're all eating lunch when the sirens go off. Dean rises to his feet and rushes to his gear and he pulls it on quickly then heads out to the rig. Cole's driving, Milo is shotgun. North Lake Shore Drive and East Erie is where the fire is. They drive quickly. Apparently it's a big fire. A few people trapped inside maybe. Dean can't help but wonder what the hell rich people on the eastside are doing that they keep starting fires.

If the world were going to explode anytime soon, it would probably look like this house. Even though his mind is on work, it's also, regrettably, kind of, on Cole's ass. Oh man, even in that fire fighter gear, he still has a sexy body. Dean is trying really hard not to think about it, obviously. Even though all he can think about is how they jacked each other off in the showers, which is obscenely kinky, actually. Almost as sexy as wings. No...no wings are far sexier. Oh man, Castiel. The things he would do to that Angel. That Angel who doesn't get references or anything along the lines of popular culture.

Dean pulls on his mask and runs straight into the building. There's screaming inside and he doesn't even wait for orders.

It's hot. Like, really, really actually hot. Even through all of his gear Dean can still feel it. It's nothing in comparison to the burning in his belly that Castiel gives him. He knows that now. And he makes it out alive, making sweet love to Cas will be first on his list. Unless denial hits him again like a tonne of bricks. Or even just a few bricks. It's enough.

The screaming is coming from a room upstairs towards the back of the house. It's kind of weird seeing a house in this part of the East Side.. Usually it's all just condos and apartment buildings. Dean runs back, covering his head instinctively when he hears the ceiling creaking.

_I wish circumstances were different._

That's Cas' voice. Dean looks up and then turns around, but he doesn't see the Angel anywhere. Just fire. The screaming continues. He shakes his head and then runs straight into the room where the screaming is coming from. A women is on the ceiling, her stomach sliced open.

Dean's body stops working. He falls to his knees. "No…" He breathes. The fire around him gets more and more intense. He can't breathe. His oxygen is working, but he can't seem to find the willpower to inhale. Azazel is supposed to be dead. He and Sam killed him. That's why they settled down. They fucking settled down because he's dead. And yet, here is his signature in the form of a twenty-something-year-old blonde in a white dress.

He falls to his side and fire consumes him.

* * *

_"It's okay." Sam places his hand on Dean's leg and Dean stares at him as though an ostrich has just mated with an silky sifaka. "Safe room." Dean tries really hard to not shove the hand off of his knee. This replicant of a brother just isn't right. None of this is right. But words just keep falling out of his mouth._

_And then. "You should take a shower." Sam wrinkles his nose._

_Dean nods. "I should take a shower. I'm gonna, I'm gonna take a shower. Right now."_

Why does this feel so wrong…?

_"Sam, you finish these trials and you die!" Dean takes hesitant steps forward, knowing that at any moment, Sam could cure Crowley and then…_

_"So?"_

_Dean's blood runs cold. His brother. His best friend. The only family that Dean has left is just willing to die._

_"There ain't no me if there ain't no you!" Dean steps forward and gives Sam a hug. "It's me, Sam. I'm back."_

* * *

"Did you get to him in time?"

"He's breathing...he'll be fine…"

"Calm down. You worked your magic right?"

"It's not magic. It's my grace."

"Is he going to live?"

"Calm down, Samsquatch. Cassie is the best healer I've ever met."

It's silent for a little while longer and then Dean finally opens his eyes. Above him, bright blue eyes are filled with worry and staring down at him.

"Chief! He's awake."

Dean blinks a few times to get his vision to adjust. "Cas…?" Hurt twinges in those eyes for a moment before it's masked.

"Sorry to disappoint, but it's just Cole." Dean takes in the short cropped black hair and the clear blue eyes. Stubbleless face, young features, dimples. Definitely not his Cas.

Cole is suddenly shoved out of the way. Finch is there instead, his face breaking out in a grin when he sees that Dean is okay. "Damnit, son, you had us all scared."

Dean sighs and presses his head back into his pillow. "Yeah, I had myself scared for a bit too."

"I bet." Finch looks over at Cole for a moment. "The doctors say you'll be fine to go tomorrow. Nothing lasting. They said after your brother and two men came in, you were perfectly fine. We were just waiting for you to wake up."

Now that Dean actually thinks about it, the more he realises that he's actually okay. Actually. Actually. A little disorientated, but for the most part, actually okay. Okay. Actually. No aches, no pains, no burns. He tries to remember what had happened, but he comes up blank.

"Well, it seems like you're still kind of out of it, so I'll come by a little later." Finch smiles at Dean before he walks out, leaving him and Cole alone.

Their eyes meet, and that same spark that they had both felt in the locks rooms shot through both of them. Even though Dean is currently incapacitated, it doesn't stop his libido. Cole takes a few steps forward and stops right next to Dean's bed.

"For a little while, I honestly thought we lost you…" Cole lean's forward and presses a small kiss to Dean's forehead. "I love you."

What Dean would give to never have heard those words come from out of Cole's mouth. He feels work-calloused hands trail down his cheeks and down his neck and to his clavicle. Dean's breath hitches.

"Cole…" Dean shakes his head and Cole halts all of his movements. "We can't."

"I know." Cole shakes his head. "Damnit, do I know."

Dean watches carefully as Cole pulls his hands back to himself and then leaves the room without another word. As soon as he's alone again, Dean's eyes slip shut and he falls into a fitful sleep.

* * *

_"I rebelled for this?" Cas' voice reverberates with the fury of God and he slams Dean against the brick wall. "So that you could say yes to them?" They're so close. All Dean would have to do is just lean forwards. It would halt the onslaught against him and fulfill that nagging sensation that he would feel everytime Cas is around him._

_"Now I lay me down to sleep, I do pray to the Angel Castiel to get his feathery ass down here." Just thinking of the possibilty of maybe seeing Cas again after a year is enough to bring a smile to Dean's face._

_"I don't understand you definition of good news." Cas has his head rested in his hand, he elbow propped up on the mantle. One of the few times he actually looks like he doesn't have a stick up his ass._

_Blood fills his vision, and pain engulfs his body. "I need you."_

* * *

Dean is convinced he's completely out of his mind. He's back home but he has no recollection of leaving the hospital. And Sam just keeps looking at him as though he's a ticking time bomb.

"What, Sam?" Dean is curled up on his sofa, trying to watch _Dr. Sexy, M.D._ but that proves to be impossible when he's being stared at.

"Are you feeling…" Sam struggles for the right term. "Well?"

"What?" Dean sits up and checks his body just to make sure that he doesn't actually have any burns on him. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Why the hell wouldn't I be sure?"

"You haven't exactly been yourself these last few days."

"Sammy, I've been home a day." Dean turns off the television to look at Sam properly.

"A day?" Sam shakes his head. "No, Dean, you've been back a week. And in that time, you've been saying some really messed up things."

Dean is at a loss for words. This really just can't be possible. "But...the hospital…was just yesterday..."

"Dean, you got out of the hospital a week ago. Cas healed you and then they let you go." Sam stands up and sits on the coffee table across from Dean. "Do you really not remember us driving you home?"

"Us?" Dean echoes quietly."

"Yeah, you prayed for Cas and he brought Gabe and me and then…" Sam stops when he sees Dean's eyes grow wide. "Okay...tell me what you remember."

"I remember Cas killing the wraith out in Yorkville...and then there was a fire" Dean omits the almost-sex with Cole. " And then-I remember seeing something that I shouldn't have seen. That I really didn't want to see." He shakes his head. Suddenly the thought of fire bursts behind his eyes and he sees the woman pinned to the ceiling. "Azazel...I saw one of his victims."

"Azazel's dead." Sam has to grab Dean by the shoulders to get him to focus. "We killed him"

"Then it's a copycat! I saw her, Sam!" Dean shoves his brother's hands off. "She was blonde and she had her stomach sliced open and she was pinned to the ceiling and she was in a white dress!" Dean presses the heels of his hands into his eyes and tries to block out everything.

"Dean, that doesn't m-" Sam stops talking and the room grows cold. Dean looks up and notices the bluish tint to the room. Sam is frozen in mid-speech.

A man appears in front of Dean; scruffy, kind of squirrelly, but with an aura of authority. "Dean Winchester." The man's voice is kind of nasally, but not unpleasantly so. "You should know this face as Chuck Shurley, or Carver Edlund. And he is merely a vessel right now."

"What?" Dean rises slowly to his feet. "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm God, Dean." 'God' sighs. "I'm sorry. But this reality I've built for you is falling apart."

_A/N: I know. I'm terrible. But this was actually a lot of fun to write. I promise there's going to be actual destiel coming up soon! I PROMISE! But I really needed to write this chapter out. And I'm also sorry I'm hyped up on meds...so...yeah. Please review! I helps me to write more, even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes. I love all of you! Pyxie xx_


	13. Chapter 12

_A/N: Okay. This is when you're all really going to start hating me. Yes, you'll get your romance this chapter, but...ugh, it's gonna be weird. Thanks all of you for your reviews and words of motivation! It means so much to me 3 -Pyxie xx_

* * *

"_God_?" Dean takes a few steps away from the man that calls himself God. "Bull."

"You believe in Angels, Dean, but not in me?" The man tilts his head to the side and sighs. "My son told you that you have no faith."

"He ran from Heaven. Why are you still keeping tabs on him?" Dean takes careful steps away from God. He realises that there's nowhere he can run, but just knowing that he'd have a head start gives him a fraction of a per cent of comfort.

"In the reality that you come from, that I took you away from, Castiel was a good soldier that rarely questioned authority and then…" God smiled at Dean. It was a warm, comforting smile. "He saved you from Hell and he rebelled for you."

Dean is beginning to feel queazy. "Why?" He can't form the actual question he wants to ask. But then again, what would he ask first? 'Why' just seems like the logical question.

"Sam was soulless and Castiel was waging a civil war in Heaven when I pulled you from there. Well...around this time, Bobby is...has ascended. Thanks to your brother. The Angels have fallen. Heaven is shut down. And you're praying to every Angel on earth. And more than that, your Castiel is Human."

Dean's head is spinning. He's thinking too hard to notice that God has taken careful steps closer to him. "That life is still going?"

"That life has never stopped."

"So what?" Dean stumbles back into the wall. "You're like a djinn? Are you sucking my life force out of me?" His suspicion comes back full force.

God shakes his head. "Dean, this is more like a dream than anything. This is...just you waking up."

"So I'm just going to wake up and remember all of this. Cole isn't real?"

"Nope. That fantasy is all you."

"That's fucked up." Dean runs his hands over his face. "What about Sam?"

"Sam is here too. He wanted Gabriel, so I gave him to him." God looks down. "I hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive me when you wake up. If it means anything at all, I'll bring Gabriel back for Sam."

"Bring him back?" Dean looks at God in absolute incredulousness. "What the hell do you mean?"

"He died to save you. People always die for you two."

"Shut up. Just…" Dean turns away from God and shakes his head "Just shut up a minute." He pulls a hand down his face tugs on his jaw. "So...if you can bring back anyone...why didn't you bring back my parents?"

God has the good grace to look embarrassed. "Do you really think that your dad would be okay with you being in love with a male angel? You do know you never told him about your sexcapades."

"What about my mother then? She was a sweet, accepting woman." Dean doesn't remember too much of her except that she was as gentle as a faun.

"And shove her back into the life of a hunter? No, she wouldn't be happy about that."

"Back…" Dean pales. "What the fuck do you mean by back?"

"I'm sorry, Dean. Time is up."

* * *

It's been a really long time since Dean woke up and actually felt really uncomfortable. Wherever he is, he's definitely not in his apartment. Wait. He opens his eyes and looks around. Somehow, he feels older than he did just yesterday, or maybe he actually feels normal now and yesterday had just been a fluke.

..._falling apart_.

Dean sits up. There are trees everywhere. It's all painfully familiar, but he kind of enjoys it. He relishes in the feeling of the simplicity of that day's activities.

"Dean, brother, we gotta get going." Benny shakes Dean by the shoulder.

"Alright. Let's go. Where's Cas?"

"I'm here, Dean." Castiel steps into Dean's line of view and they make eye contact. It doesn't take more than a few seconds for them to both realise that something is off. Cas' eyes drop to Dean's mouth, and Dean unconsciously licks his lips.

Castiel isn't able to explain why, but that little movement cause a flash of warmth in his lower stomach and he inhales sharply. Dean wants nothing more than to close the ten feet between them and press his angel against a tree and bite down on those perpetually chapped lips.

"You two coming?"

"Maybe." Dean mumbles. The double-meaning brings a little bit of heat into Dean's face, but he represses the urge to actually do anything. He tears his eyes away from Cas' everything and follows Benny.

He can feel Cas close behind him. At one point, he stops abruptly, just to feel the solid warmth of Cas against his back. The angel lingers a little longer than would be considered okay for having bumped into someone, but Dean feels as though he pulled away too soon.

"Will you two stop it?" Benny looks back at them with raised eyebrows and shakes his head. "It's nauseating."

Castiel and Dean share a confused look.

"Forget it." Benny bares his teeth and pulls out his knife and Dean follows suit. He can feel something approaching. Probably chompers, maybe vampires, maybe shifters.

There's a rustling off to one side. Definitely not chompers. A couple of ghouls appear and go straight for Cas. Before one of them can even get to him, Dean takes off its head. Cas takes care of the other one as it approaches him in a flash of his grace.

"We need to go. Now." Benny's finished taking off the last ghoul's head and signals for them to go a different way.

This is raw. This is simple. This is...still not right.

Night has fallen again. Benny is off somewhere. Probably scouting the area. And it's just Dean and Cas.

"Dean…" Cas looks down in a guilty fashion before making eye contact with Dean. "Does this all feel wrong to you? Like we've done this before?"

Dean sets down the stone he had been using the sharpen his weapon and sighs. "It just feels wrong. But I feel like I already know what's gonna happen." He takes a careful step towards Cas who follows suit and steps forward.

"I thought you don't believe in fate."

"This is something else." They continue walking towards each other until they're so close they're almost touching.

"Dean." Cas' voice has dropped an octave, and damn if that doesn't send a shiver down Dan's spine.

Dean glances down at Cas' lips, and it seems that that's the only motivation that Cas needs to press their lips together. It feels...right. The only thing that actually feels normal and there's nothing even close to normal about it.

Castiel pushes harder into the kiss and forces Dean to step backwards. They keep going until Dean's back presses against a tree and the hunter lets out a groan. Their lips part and their tongues collide. Sparks of pleasure shooting through their nerves and straight south. Cas drops his hands to Dean's hips and pulls them flush. The sound that both of them make at that is needy and lustful. Dean slowly grinds against Cas to gain some friction, but is stopped.

Cas pulls away for a moment and Dean looks at him in shock, ready with a complaint. But he stops when he sees Cas' pupil-blown eyes half-lidded.

Dean drops his head to press kisses along Cas' jaw and clavicle. He leaves small bites and sucks gently when he feels fingers weave gently through his hair. Castiel moves his hips in small circles, forcing their hard lengths to rub against each other in a teasing manner.

Cas pulls back just a little and forces Dean to meet his eyes. "Dean, I-"

* * *

"-Was never in your-" Cas looks down and inhales.

Dean raises his eyebrows. Clearly, they both know otherwise. Sam, internally, is laughing, but he can't let it show. And Bobby, well, let's just say he doesn't want to think about it.

Truthfully, Dean knows he can't fully act on his insatiable feelings, but that doesn't stop him from thinking about it at all moments of the day. Slowly, he rakes his eyes over Cas' face and down the expanse of his chest. Just the thought of getting him out of that ridiculous trenchcoat and ill-fitting suit really jimmied his nethers.

"Hey, Cas-"

* * *

"-How many is that now?" Dean tries not to watch Cas' mouth as his devours burger after burger.

"Lost count. Somewhere in the low hundreds." His answer earns him an incredulous look, but he barely notices.

Dean is more than just a little surprised to see Castiel eating. The only other time he'd seen him eat had been in the bunker in Kansas when they watched how to cure a demon. But that had just been popcorn. It was different then. Or…

Dean blinks. Will have been weird. Wait, bunker? The Men of Letters? But the Apocalypse had been averted. So what's this? Cas stops eating for a moment and looks at Dean with wide eyes.

"You feel it too?"

Dean wordlessly nods.

Castiel narrows his eyes as the world shifts again.

* * *

"Whoa…" Cas rolls his head with sudden vertigo. "You are not you. Not you you. From now anyway. When are you from?"

"The tailend of-" Dean stops. "What the fuck is happening?"

Cas chuckles. "It's the end of the world, Deanie. I'm having sex and making merry. At least, while I can. Truthfully, I would much rather prefer to not be human right now, but hey. Life, y'know."

"No." Dean holds up a hand and staggers back a bit. "No, no. This is wrong. I've done this before."

"I would have to say that the other you did this before." Cas smiles and then it fades slowly. "Wait...no you're right. We have done this before." He shakes his head. "This shouldn't be happening. What do you remember about Chicago?"

"Which time?" The question surprises even Dean. The memories are swirling through his head in torrents. Not one of them makes a lick of sense.

"The first time. With Death."

"Pizza. And then...he gave me...he gave me." Dean laughs, just to gain some amount of comfort in whatever is going on. "He gave me an apartment."

"No, Dean. He gave you his ring." Cas runs a hand through his hair. "Oh man, this is all kinds of messed up." He reaches into his pocket to pull out a orange prescription medication bottle.

Dean steps forwards and stops him, a hand on the ex-angel's forearm. "Don't do that."

Cas looks up and does that eyes-only smile that got Dean's heart beating. "You never did like it. I guess even in the past." He placed a hand over Dean's and gently pulled his off. "It numbs the pain, Dean."

"But I'm here."

"I know."

They're silent for a moment. "Cas, I-"

* * *

"-Mean that Azazel's back."

Dean shakes his head. "No, Sam. Someone's doing this to taunt us." He stands up and walks around the small apartment living room. Something is cold inside of him. "Cas!" He calls up to the ceiling. "I need you down here, man."

In a flutter of wings, Cas appears. Wearing...jeans and flannel. "Hello, Dean."

"What's with the get-up?" Dean rakes his eyes approvingly up and down Cas' body, momentarily forgetting about his class five situation.

"It's Gabriel's idea."

"Dean!" Sam stands up from the coffee table with a confused expression.

"What? No need to freak out." Dean stops. "Just kidding. Cas, do you know who Azazel is? Was?"

"He was a demon. He killed a number of people who were dear to you."

"Yeah, we know." Dean looks at Sam who's still staring at him. "Do you know if he's still out there?"

"If I recall correctly, you killed him with the Colt. So, yes. He's dead. Is that what you called me down for?" For a moment, Cas' eyes fall downcast, but when he meets Dean's hungry expression, he brightens again.

Dean's ready to answer no, but when he sees that Sam is still in the room, he clears his throat. "Uhm...for now." He shoots Cas a wink. "But for now, we need to figure out who this copycat is."

_A/N: I know! It's confusing. But the fact that Dean is jumping around through their timeline...it brings up some feelings that he's been feeling in present times. But I hope you enjoyed the Destiel. And I'm sorry I'm not too good at writing descriptive sexy times. It's just really hard to concentrate on my writings while these annoying yellow helicopters are flying above me, and I know that they're safe, but they're bothering me, and I think I just saw the helicopter with the birds of prey just snatch up a child. So, yeah. I'm a little distracted. I also realised that I've never directed any of you to my tumblr page. I mean, you don't have to go if you don't want to, but it'd be nice to get to know the people who are reading this. My url is _(pyx . tumblr . com)._ I think that's the way to do it! I LOVE ALL OF YOU AND PLEASE REVIEW! I will answer every and all questions that you have! -Pyxie 3_


	14. Chapter 13

THIRTEEN

_A/N: Alright. Don't hate me. It'll all work out in the end, I promise. This story is also primarily Destiel, just so you know (I know it doesn't seem that way) I've had this idea for a really long time. So don't worry, I'm not that evil. Look at the genre. It says 'Romance' and 'Humour'. Do you really think I'd destroy your feels? (yes, I might), but only for a moment. I cross my heart and lick my elbow. This, I think, will be the only the feel-destroying chapter. And while you're reading it, I just want you to know that I love you, each and every one of you with every fibre of my being. Don't worry! IT ISN'T OVER YET! Love always, Pyxie 3_

* * *

It's a curious thing, death is. Dean had been hoping for that heroic death when he was a younger man. A much younger man. He used to think that he would be taken out by some son of a bitch of a monster while defending his younger brother, but...that never happened. Instead, he kept his job at the firestation in Chicago and one day, he got promoted to Fire Chief when Finch retired. Cole left not much after Dean and Cas consummated their love.

When Dean was thirty-seven, Chicago legalised gay marriage and it only seemed natural at the time that he and Cas get married. Hell, they were bonded beyond death, so why not do the human tradition and marry?

He's not exactly sure when he stopped being unstuck in time, but damn, it was a good day. Seeing Cas as the broken shell of a man that he could have become in 2014 broke Dean's heart every time he was sent back. But, now, he's happy. Both of them are. So what if Dean aged and Cas didn't? That didn't matter to them. At least, at first.

It was when Dean's hair started greying and his joints stopped working as well and alcohol started to affect him negatively that they both realised that something was weird. Cas began zapping them both places, but even that began to take its toll on Dean's system. Apparently, it was something on the molecular level of Dean's body that his digestive track began to clog and then he'd have to take laxatives and it would just get gross. So they drove. But in Chicago, that was hard to do.

So...they moved.

Dean was missing Lawrence and Cas said that he would follow Dean anywhere. So back to Kansas they went. They bought themselves a small little house in the suburbs and were happy. Whenever Dean was in pain, Cas would heal him, but...there was only so much he could do. Sam moved in with Gabriel not too far away from them and they were happy. But when Sam passed over, Gabriel followed, leaving just Dean and Cas.

For the months following Sam's death, Dean was inconsolable. He knew it was Sam's time to go, but he was the big brother. Dean should have died first. Dean started to stay up for days on end again like he did in his thirties and the sleep deprivation began to shut down parts of Dean's body. So Cas had to knock him out. It hurt the angel every time he did it. He hated forcing Dean to do anything, but this was necessary.

So, this is the end.

Dean raises his green eyes to look at Castiel. "You're still beautiful, Cas. God, you haven't aged a day since we met."

"I know." Cas clasps onto Dean's hand and strokes his fondly. "I used to think that you would never warm up to me."

"I'm so glad I did. Missing out on all this. I love you. I know I didn't say it nearly enough, but I love you and I'm sorry I didn't say it more often." Tears show in Dean's eyes and it makes Castiel's heart clench.

"Dean." His voice is gentle, but firm. "Dean, you never have to say it to me for me to know how you feel."

"You're perfect. So perfect."

Cas shakes his head. "I am anything but, Dean."

"Just take the compliment."

Forcing a laugh, Cas nods. "Thank you." A pause. "I love you."

"I love you." They stare at each other for a long moment. "You'll meet me up there, right? I won't be there alone?"

"Never." Cas says the word with such conviction that Dean can't not believe it.

"Okay...okay." Slowly, carefully, Dean brings Cas' hand to his lips. "I'll see you soon. Maybe I'll actually be able to walk when we get up there, huh." His final attempt at humour. With his last ounce of strength, Dean looks at Cas and smiles. The last thing he sees as his vision blurs is that beautiful smile and those beautiful blue eyes.

His heartbeat slows, his breathing stops. His vision fades to black. The sensation of fingers brushing over his cheek fades to nothing.

"Dean," A different voice. Old and weighed down. "It's time." Death. A cold warmth brushes over his body and then all is black.

There's clarity as he feels himself ascend. The answer to 'what does this all mean'. He sees Cas cradling his face as a blurred memory as he dies. This is what he had lived for. This life. Normal, apple pie, well, maybe not normal, but definitely happy. He wouldn't have changed a thing. And now, he can feel the presence of his brother and Gabriel and not much further behind him, Castiel. And he feels at home.

* * *

_A/N: I figured, I would double update today. And I know that this is short, but I couldn't write more without wanting to die on the inside, so yeah...I love you. Pyxie 3_


	15. Chapter 14

_A/N: So...this is the moment you've all been waiting for. This chapter is rated M. Enjoy~ Pyxie xx_

Sam is legitimately confused. He's confused as to why he's confused. He's even confused about his confusion for his confusion about being confused. And confusion doesn't even sound like a word anymore. Maybe it's because Gabriel is standing in front of him with a mustache. Or maybe it's because Gabriel's in the Bunker. Or perhaps it's because Dean's trying to convince him that they had both grown old and then died. Really, it could be anything. And then, of course, Cas is human.

"Sammy? Sam? Sam. Samsquatch. Are you in there?"

"You are alive! He said you'd come back!"

"Sam. It is not nearly as confusing as Dean is making it out to be."

"Shut up. Just...shut up, all of you." Sam can't concentrate. "Now, someone, calmly, tell me what the hell is going on." He looks at Cas who seems to be the only one who really knows what's going on. "You, speak."

"Why don't you speak to me that way?" Gabriel pouts and steps a little closer to Sam.

"Not now, Gabe. Cas speaks first."

"Well, according to Dean, he's come unstuck in time."

"Like Billy Pilgrim?" Sam asks.

"Not quite. Billy Pilgrim did not jump realities. Apparently, we had all been sent back to before the apocalypse, but with different lives. But I healed Dean, so that must have set something off."

"That doesn't make any sense. Gabriel healed me once."

"Not on such an incredible scale. Dean was near death, you were merely knocked unconscious."

"I wouldn't say _merely_." Gabe interrupts. "That was a pretty nasty bump."

"Regardless, one of Dean's lungs collapsed."

Dean blinks. He hadn't know that much. "Right. And then that's when God comes in. As Chuck fucking Shurley."

"You talked to God?" Gabriel grabs Dean by the shoulders. "What did he say?"

"That the reality he built for me was falling apart."

"Is it?" Sam looks at Dean expectantly.

"What the hell do you think? I died, Sam. We died. It was uncomfortable and I ascended. And I heard Death speak to me. And then and then…" Dean shakes his head. This is starting to get way too complicated for his liking. Really just awful. "What the fuck is happening?"

"Dad wanted to give you a better life. But he can't just alter lives and timelines. Nobody can. If anybody can, it'd be death. But why would he do that? He believes in Fate just as much as Atropos does." Gabriel shakes his head. "He only had your best interest in mind, Dean."

"Then...why couldn't I just keep living in my shitty little bubble?" Dean pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. Cas takes a small step forward and places his hand on Dean's shoulder.

"Because you had died in that bubble, Dean. There was nowhere for you to go but here."

"Or actually die, right?" Sam's head is spinning.

"Does that mean I'm done jumping back and forth through fucking time and reality?" Dean looks at Cas. "We got married, Cas. And bonded. Like what?"

"You bonded with Castiel? Deanie Weanie! I'm so proud of you. And Cassie!" Gabriel turns and gives his brother a hug. "Would you look at that. Did you bring his wings out for him?"

"On several occasions."

"How was that, Dean? Simply erotic, right?" Gabe wiggles his eyebrows at Dean and smirks. Then he catches a glimpse of Sam's red face. "Oh, wait...did we…" He drifts off. Sam nods wordlessly. "Well, hot damn. I get the smart one." That only causes Sam to blush a little brighter. But for Gabriel, it's kind of worth the abuse that Dean is inevitably going to start shouting at him.

"Dean is very intelligent, Gabriel. Perhaps in a less conventional way, but he is definitely resourceful and rather talented with electronics." Castiel interjects before anyone can say anything else.

Truthfully, Dean is rendered speechless. Sam's always been the smart one and he'd always been the grunt. Hell, he dropped out of high school. Dean had spent his time killing bitches and watching shitty television while his brother attending freaking _Stanford_.

"Wow...you've got it bad."

"Yeah, when the hell did that happen?" Sam looks at Dean with a curious expression. "I mean, I get that you two share a more profound bond or whatever, but when, in each reality, did you actually fall for him?"

Dean blushes, a manly blush. Not one of those doki-doki kawaii blushes. "I didn't...fall…" He lowers his voice when he notices Cas' confused stare. But he could pinpoint exactly when in each reality that he started getting feelings for his pop culture-confused Angel. When he was saved from Zachariah after seeing the Croatoan world. And after seeing his wings after he changed back from being a cat. That was it. And Dean would never openly admit it.

"Why those two times?" Gabriel smirks, obviously having heard Dean's thoughts. "Was it because he was your knight in shining armour? And then he was that particularly sexy man with the raven wings?"

Sam clears his throat awkwardly. It is kind of gross talking about his brother in a non-brotherly way. But it seems like Gabriel really wants to know. And Cas isn't stopping him. And everyone in that room knows that Dean can't stop him.

"No." Dean protests, but Gabriel just hurries on.

"Or maybe it's because you've never been saved by anyone before."

"Stop, damnit."

"Or, or! You immediately thought that wing-sex would be kinda kinky. And it is."

"No! It's because everyone has either died or left me. And the fact that Cas saved me even when it was considered disobeying means something. And yeah, wings are fucking hot, alright. But he just...he just fucking looked at me after he saved my fucking life. And I don't even get why he would do it. I was nothing but awful to him and then he fucking saves me. Even when he was a fucking cat."

"That was still the best idea I've ever had."

"It was the worst idea you've ever had." Sam mutters, but no one seems to hear him.

"Of course I saved you, Dean." Castiel walks forward and gives Dean that soul-searching stare that he's always been so accustomed to using. "The Righteous Man that I pulled from the Pits of Hell is worthy."

_I'm the one who gripped you tight and raised you from perdition_. That had been a memory that Dean had been sent back to several times.

"Geez, thanks Cas."

"Have you two consummated your love in this life?"

Silence.

"Really?" Gabriel whistles and shakes his head. "You two sorry sonsabitches. Well, as soon as we're done talking, I'm whisking Sam to Tahiti and you two can have this place all to yourselves." He winks in Sam's direction, earning a small, understanding smile.

"This is important though." Dean urges.

"You don't want to?" Cas furrows his eyebrows and frowns.

"I do. It's just that...what the fuck do we do if I get thrown back into time and space again? Then what?" Dean shakes his head. "I'm not going through that again. I'm not watching my brother die again." And he wouldn't say it, but he had really enjoyed Gabriel's company in his later years.

Gabriel smiles, but doesn't say anything.

"Alright, so then what the hell should we do?" Sam speaks up and is actually heard this time.

"We should find God." Cas suggests.

"That didn't work out so well the first time. If he doesn't want to be found, he won't be." Dean sits down at the table as he speaks and drops his head in his hands. "This all happened because you made a wish, Cas."

"I did no such thing."

"Not in a wishing well. You just said, 'I wish circumstances were different' and God said that they would be. And they were. And I died. And I went to Heaven. And we got married. Twice." Dean drops his hands to the table and sighs. "Alright. Let's figure out how to conjure God." With a clap, Dean stands from the table and grabs Cas' hand to lead him to his room.

Sam and Gabriel watch them go. When Sam is sure that Dean is out of earshot, he turns to Gabriel. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

* * *

"Dean, where are you taking me?" Cas lets himself be led away by Dean.

"Oh, I'm taking you." Dean turns to Cas for a moment to wink.

"I realise that, Dean." Cas makes an exasperated face and, upon catching Dean rolling his eyes, snaps his mouth shut and narrows his eyes suspiciously. "Or are you making some kind of innuendo?"

"Yes." When they reach his room, Dean shuts his door and pushes Cas against it, his lips carefully tracing down the ex-angel's neck. "We've been through so much, Cas. Oh, god, so much."

"I would appreciate if you left my father out of this." Castiel parts his lips in a moan when Dean bites at a particularly sensitive part on his neck. "We shouldn't be doing this right now…" He doesn't sound too convincing.

"I know." Dean grinds his hips gently against Cas' just once as his lips travel up to bite at the other's ears. "But I just don't want to stop."

"But Sam." Cas forces out through a moan.

"Do you know how big this bunker is? Because I don't. So many rooms, Cas." Dean leans back just a little to search those blue eyes and then leans forward to kiss him firmly on the lips.

Cas responds immediately. Any tribulation he had been feeling about being with Dean have vanished. His hands bury themselves in Dean's hair and he forces the hunter backwards to his bed. They fall down together, less than graceful, but that doesn't seem to matter because Cas' hands are beginning to wander. Down the front of Dean's shirt, unbuttoning as they go. Over his chest once his shirt is off. And down to the waist of his jeans. Dean's hips involuntarily buck up as soon as Cas unbuttons his pants and slips his hand in. Dean bites at Cas' lips to stifle a moan, but that proves useless as soon as Cas' fingers brush over the head of his cock and down the shaft.

"Oh, baby…" Dean moans quietly as he begins tugging off Castiel's clothes. He thrusts his throbbing member harder into Cas' hand, but the ex-angel seems intent on teasing. Just gentle, testing touches up and down his length. Cas pulls away to press tiny kisses down Dean's neck to his chest down farther and farther until his pulling off Dean's jeans and pants. Dean is reduced to saying Cas' name like a mantra, his hands gently brushing through that soft, black hair, gently coaxing him home. With a small smile, Cas looks up at Dean with those innocent eyes as he licks at the tip gently. The moan that comes from Dean's mouth is downright filthy, just straight out of a porno and Cas'll be damned if that didn't make him break out in a cold sweat.

He nibbles gently for a few moments and then suddenly takes Dean all the way in, his hands planted firmly on Dean's hips to keep him from bucking. Dean wishes he could press into that warm heat, but even as a human, Cas is still way stronger than any man Dean had ever met. Dean's hips stutter as he shakes his head. "No, Cas…not yet…"

Cas pulls back and looks Dean right in the eye. "Like I'd let you." He goes back to

Wherever Cas got those words from, Dean doesn't know, but hot damn… Dean moans a little louder this time as Cas takes him in fully and begins bobbing up and down. He can feel his impending orgasm, but Cas keeps pulling back and stops his gentle ministrations when he's about to finish.

"Cas, baby, you gotta stop…" Dean pulls gently at Cas' hair and pulls him up for a kiss. "You're perfect."

"I'm anything but." Cas mumbles into the kiss.

"Just accept the compliment."

"Thank you."

Dean's head reels and he chuckles. "That was uncomfortable."

"Yes, I felt it too." Cas sits back and starts to undo his own pants, pulling them off and tossing them off to the side at near-angelic speeds. "But I didn't find it uncomfortable. It felt…" Cas searches for the right word as he repositions himself over Dean's swelling member. "Right."

Dean nods in affirmation as he trails his hands down Cas' sides and back, near reverently as he traces and memorises each dip and curve of his body. Cas gently takes one of Dean's hands in his and guides his fingers to his lips and sucks gently at each digit, making sure to keep eye contact with Dean the entire time. Dean shudders and tries to control his breathing, but his pulse has sky-rocketed and his hips are slowly rocking against Cas' rear. And just for effect, Cas moans quietly around Dean's fingers as he grinds gently against him. When he's sure those fingers are nice and lubricated, he leads them to his entrance and then lets go, letting Dean do as he pleases.

There's a fast way to prep and a slow way to prep. And Dean wants to take the slow way. But what he wants and what Cas wants are two completely different things. But even so, he carefully slides a single finger in and watches in fascination as Cas breathes in a shuddery breath and arches his back. Dean sits up and cradles Cas against him and he pushes a second finger in slowly. Cas tilts his head back, exposing his neck to Dean as he moans quietly with every small movement that Dean makes. By the time Dean's gotten all three fingers in, Castiel is a quivering mess above him, moving back against those fingers in him, trying to get Dean to touch that special spot inside of him, but Dean shies away each time he gets close. Just ot be a tease.

"Cas, babe, you good'?" Dean pulls his fingers out completely and Cas whimpers at the loss. He lowers his blue eyes to look straight into those green ones and smiles.

It's not a particularly lustful smile or even slightly suggestive. No, it's that beautiful smile that Dean's only seen a handful of times. "Dean...I've never been better." He ducks his head and lets his lips hover of Dean's. And for an undetermined amount of time, they don't move. Breathing the other's air, staring into the other's eyes. The anticipation of the actual kiss starts to grow between them and eventually neither of them can handle it anymore and either Cas moves or Dean moves first or they both move simultaneously towards each other and press their lips in a gentle kiss. Dean shifts his hips as they kiss to align himself with Cas' entrance. He feels the ex-angel nod and he slowly pushes home.

Cas' lips part in a silent moan. His right hand slots over the where his handprint used to be, his left hand burying itself in Dean's hair. The thrusts begin in a slow, careful rhythm and Cas hesitantly presses back as he bites his lip to keep the moans in. After a few more thrusts, he lets out a rather loud groan and grinds down hard on Dean's dick. An amazing feeling of pleasure had swept over him and he just can't contain the small little moans he makes at Dean's slightest movement.

Slow way forgotten, Dean cups the globes of Cas' ass and moves harder and faster inside of him, trying to hit that magical spot inside of his angel. He starting to come undone, his hips snapping up against his will as he feels that tight, warm heat around his member. As Cas starts biting at Dean's clavicle, he mutters something in Enochian and squeezes the other's arm.

"Dean…" Cas presses small open-mouthed kisses along Dean's neck and jaw. Dean's starting to lose it, and he can tell Cas is too. The way his angel rocks against him and moans. The heat is building up between them and soon Dean's hips are stuttering.

"Oh, baby…" He doesn't get much more out as Cas releases between them with a moan and he follows soon after. They ride out that orgasmic high together, gasping out breaths and moaning quietly.

Dean pulls out and collapses backwards onto his pillow, bring Cas with him. Cas curls up on his chest almost immediately as Dean speaks. "Next time...we'll switch."

* * *

_A/N: Oh man...so it's been a really long time since I've actually written a sex scene alone...so...yeah. And I'm sorry it's awful. And I'm so sorry that this took so long. And oh my Chuck, I'm so sorry it's so horribly written...I'M SORRY! Anyways...on the personal side of things, I've walked away from my former life and have found myself living out in the middle of the ocean living with cannibals and meerkats. And I'd just like to say thank you to more-profound-bond for being the most encouraging person in the world and a personal apology for this horrible chapter. No, really, this entire chapter is just fluff. Ugh. Uuuuuggggghhhhhhh I suck, but you're still reading. Which has to mean something, right? -Pyxie xx_


	16. Chapter 15

_A/N: So...I finished the last chapter while I was drunk off of wine...so...I hope that explains some things. So back to actual plot now instead of the sexy times. Also, because there are already too many things to deal with in this chapter, Ezekiel may or may not make an appearance in this fanfic. imsorryfortheinconveniencebecauseilikezekeandidont wannaignorehim! Whoo! I make sense._

MEANWHILE…

"You have some explaining to do." Sam turns to Gabriel and then blinks. He really has to think back to when he had last seen the archangel. How many years had it been? Or had it just happened?

Gabriel can tell Sam's confusion and takes a careful step forward and hugs his hunter. "Let's go somewhere." They don't go too far, but it's out of Kansas. When they land, Gabriel is panting.

"Gabe?" Sam leans down and holds Gabriel by the shoulders. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." He looks around. "Not where I would have prefered to bring you, but this is nice." They're on a beach, maybe in Mexico , in a tiny little shack. Gabriel leans against the wall and takes in deep breaths. "Oh, man. So you and me, huh? You dig me, Sam?"

Sam doesn't know how to answer. Or even if he should answer. Not while Gabriel is like this. So instead of saying anything, he instead reaches forward and gently pulls the fake mustache off from over Gabe's lip. "That's better."

Gabriel's eyes follow Sam's fingers as the hunter fiddles with the fake stache in his hands. "You know, I'd really like to stay, but I really mustache." Gabe laughs at his own joke in an attempt to alleviate the tension between them. "Get it, Sammy?"

"Yeah," Sam shakes his head, trying to cover up his laugh. "I get it." He sets the mustache down somewhere on a table nearby and sits down and leans against the wall next to Gabe. "But, you gotta let me know, Gabe. Are you doing okay?"

"Eh, who knows? Dad. That's who. We just gotta find him and get him to realise that he's doing all the wrong things."

"What? Like getting Dean and Cas together? Or...like having you name us the Fuck Shotguns?" Sam turns to look at Gabriel with a puzzled expression.

"Sam, let's be honest." That sends a shock of despair through Sam. "No, no. Don't feel that way. What I mean is that eventually you and me would have gotten together. Destiel would have happened. But the angels falling. Metatron destroying Heaven. That's hard, babe. We can't fix that alone." Gabriel shuffles over a little so that their arms are pressing against each other.

"Gabriel...how are we gonna find him?"

"We'll find him." Gabe turns his eyes to look up at Sam and they hold eye contact. Sam gets a random flash of how he was stared at a long time ago in Chicago in Gabriel's penthouse. That reality hadn't really existed though. But it had happened.

"I love you."

Gabriel's eyes widen and it takes him a few moments for the shocked expression to slide off his face and into a smile. "Wow, Samsquatch. You just really know how to get to the point." He runs a hand down the buttons of Sam's flannel shirt and then grips gently at the hems. "You love me?"

"You stuck with me until I died." Even though Sam hadn't jumped time and realities, he still remembers bits and pieces or even giant chunks of what the life that had lived together. Decades of marriage and...briefly, they had been in Heaven. "And passed that. So yeah, I do love you."

Gabriel smirks. "I always knew you had a thing for this." He waves a hand down his body. "I don't understand how through. I mean...I killed your brother a hundred times and made you live without him for months. And then when you found me, I almost didn't bring him back. Usually, most people wouldn't fall for someone like me after all I've done. Oh! And then I made you say that you had genital herpes. I also hit you in the junk with a giant metal ball. I also-"

"Gabriel." Sam holds Gabe by both shoulders. "Stop. Please. Jesus. The living in TV land thing for a bit was pretty much harmless. And as for killing Dean...that was teaching me a lesson. In those weird, awful Sabriel fanfics online...those crazy fangirls think it was kind of cute that you tried to teach me a lesson. Despite how fucked up it was."

"You read fanfiction?"

"Shut up."

Gabriel's eyes widen and he pushes himself away from the wall with a giddy little giggle. "Oh my Dad. You wanted to know what it was like to have sex with an Archangel so you researched it. Leave it to my little nerd to research sex."

"It wasn't like that." Sam protested.

"Tell me, apparently we had sex in a different reality, were they accurate?"

"They got the sweets fetish right on."

"Caramel or chocolate?"

"Depends on where on my body, but most of them just said chocolate. And sprinkles."

Gabriel smirks. "That's creative. Did we ever use sprinkles, Sam?"

"I don't know. Have we?" Sam steps towards Gabe, who steps towards him as well.

"I think we should reenact just to make sure that we haven't forgotten."

* * *

A couple of hours later, Sam's hair is matted to his hair by chocolate syrup. There are sprinkles all over the entire room. Gabriel is curled up on Sam's chest. They're both panting. Sam is trying to compare if the fake reality had been anything like the real reality.

"Nope. Stop that. That had been me too." Gabriel scoots his way up to Sam's chest and looks him over. "Well, don't you look thoroughly fucked out."

"I don't f-" Before Sam can get any further, Gabriel's covered his mouth with a small hand. Those gold eyes are glinting in the pale moonlight.

"I know. Sammy makes love." Gabriel replaces his hand with his lips and smiles as he feels Sam kiss him back. He could get used to this.

Sam sighs contentedly and rests his head back against the pillow. He's starting to feel a little gross. All things considered. "We should shower. And then we need to actually talk...we got…" He glances around the room at the chocolate and sprinkles and whipped cream. "Distracted." Dean would never let this go if he heard about it…

"We'll get distracted in the shower too." Gabriel sends Sam a suggestive wink and hops up, dragging his Samsquatch with him.

And distracted they did get in the shower. Twice.

* * *

They decided to leave the little shack and actually be around mortals so they wouldn't be tempted to jump each other. Not saying that they still don't want to, but public indecency is a crime. They settle for holding hands, not caring one little bit if people see them.

With each step that Sam doesn't ask his questions, he becomes more and more nervous, until his entire body is tense and his walking is clumsy. Gabriel latches on to the hint and sits them down on a bench looking out to the Gulf.

"Alright, Sam, tell me what's wrong." Gabriel massages each of Sam's fingers to get him to relax.

"Heaven is wrong. And...you too." Sam sighs and drops his eyes to their hands. "You used to whisk me away to Fiji and Tahiti and Barcelona and Cote d'Ivoire. And you wouldn't even look even slightly exerted. And now…" Sam thinks back to when they had arrived.

Gabriel's hands have stilled. He looks over Sam's face carefully. "Heaven got shut down. My powers are dwindled. But I was brought back by God, Sam. I shouldn't even be able to fly. Have you seen my brothers and sisters? They can fly very short distances. But from Kansas to Mexico? Nope. I'm the only one. And until Heaven comes back online, no Transatlantic voyages. Unless we do it the mortal way." He's trying to turn it into a joke, but his tone is so heavy that he fails at it.

Sam shakes his head. "We'll stay here. We'll do everything the mortal way until you're feeling up to it."

Gabriel looks at him and smiles. "Well, aren't you just the sweetest." He leans forwards and presses the smallest of chaste kisses against Sam's lips. "You're wonderful, Sam Winchester."

_A/N: So...clearly I started this chapter before Tuesday's episode...uhm...I kind of really hate Ezekiel. Bastard made Dean choose. THAT'S NOT OKAY! I know it's all about the plot, but CAS! CAAAAS! My poor baby! Oh my Chuck. That face. And mah feels. Bloody hell. I know all of us are in this empathic, telepathic embrace right now, attempting to pick up the pieces of our broken souls. So...while this was getting angsty and season 9 is killing me, I started a new fanfic called _Evening Satirist_. But I haven't published it yet. Maybe I will. I kind of like it. Yeah. I don't have a brain. LOVE YOU ALL! OH SO FREAKING MUCH! I LOVE YOU LIKE DEAN LOVES PIE AND SAM! OH EM GEE! Please review, my sweets. And tell me if I should post my new story or not. Or maybe. Who knows. Love always, Pyxie 3 Post Script: I know I said no more fluff, but...but...but…_


	17. Chapter 16

SIXTEEN

"Alright, bitches." Gabriel plops himself down on Sam's lap and gives Dean this intense look.

"Why are looking at me when you say that?" Dean crosses his arms in a stance of defiance. "Why not look at Sam too?"

"Because my Samsquatch isn't a bitch, Deanie Weanie."

"Gabriel. Don't talk about my brother like that." The scolding is light, but Sam means it. And Gabe can tell.

The Archangel raises his hands in mock surrender. "Sorry, babe. Didn't mean to hurt your bro's feelings." Gabriel presses a small kiss to Sam's cheek before heading back over to the head of the table. "So, first things first. When we summon God. What exactly is our end game? I mean, I get that you're probably pissed off that he would just leave the apocalypse to you two. And that Sam almost died trying to complete his trials. And probably because he chose a nut job to take down his word. And-"

"Enough, brother." Castiel sits down in one of the chairs. He winces slightly and prays that no one has noticed. Dean does, however, and he smirks, despite the serious situation.

"I want to know why he decided to change our circumstances for a short period of time." Sam is truly curious about what God wanted to do for the Winchesters. It isn't as though they had had the best life growing up. So why now? What made this point in time so freaking special?

Dean runs a hand over his face. "And if he's so damn powerful, why the hell was I thrown through time like the TARDIS?" Cas tilts his head and opens his mouth to question. "Don't. It's a show."

Cas tries to glare at Dean, but he just can't get even an iota of anger towards his charge. Maybe it's humanity slowly taking him over, or maybe it's because he's just so far gone on Dean that any negative emotion towards him is impossible. Gabriel notices the awe in Cas' eyes whenever he looks at Dean.

"Alright, you two are officially disgusting." Gabriel shakes his head at Dean and Cas and tries hard not to gag. "Okay, so tell me, without undressing each other with your eyes, why we're summoning God." Dean looks like he's going to object, so Gabe hurries on. "I get that you don't wanna jump through realities anymore. I get it. But if you're done, why don't you just keep living your life like this?"

"I can't watch Cas die again. Or watch him turn into some kind of deranged hippie, alright?" Dean pours himself a shot of whisky, while trying to ignore just how put out Cas looks about Dean's drinking. "And if I can make sure for certain that I'm never gonna have to see that again...that's great. I watched him _explode_! I watched Sam jump into the Pit dozens of times. I re-experienced my mom's death. So yeah, we're gonna summon God and make sure that I don't have to deal with that again."

"Well...that sucks." Sam nudges Gabriel in his side. "What? It does."

"There are better ways to express it, Gabe." Sam shakes his head. Okay, so what if Gabriel is right? It does suck. It really does sound like it would suck.

"Well, now that that has been established, how about we get to summoning?" Dean wants this to hurry along. Each moment they wait, he feels as though he'll get swallowed back in time or sent back to Purgatory or Hell…

"Well...I would suggest we find Joshua. But all the Angels fell, Dean." Cas is sitting with his head in hands as he thinks through scenarios. Dean places a hand on his shoulder and gently rubs little circles on his back. It can't be easy for Cas; being human.

"There's no God summoning ritual?" Gabriel shakes his head at Dean's question. "There's a spell for everything. But not for God? We can summon freaking _Death_, but not God? Is that right?"

"We can summon Death."

"Yeah, I just said that, Sam."

"No, Dean. We can summon Death. We won't bind him this time. But I feel like maybe he might just talk to you."

"What? Another death induced state to summon Death." Dean hadn't enjoyed dying. Ever. All of his several times dying had sucked major ball sack. "I dunno. What if he doesn't wanna talk to me this time?"

"Dean, Death feels so awful for you, he takes pity on you." Gabriel rolls his eyes. Castiel looks up at Gabriel and they meet eyes. For a moment, they just stare. And then Cas drops his head. "I know, Cassie."

"What?"

"He can't hear me." Gabe sighs. "Okay, what he was thinking is that normally when Death is bound by someone, he just kills them. But when you did it, he just gave you a warning. I wouldn't overstep that warning, boys. But!" He spins in a circle. "Since you're all human, you all have your personal reapers. Cas was thinking that because Angels are a little different, that if he dies, his reaper may be...a little higher up."

"You're thinking that if we kill Cas, Death will personally come and reap him?" Dean's eyes almost pop out of his skull. Sam looks at him in concern. He knows just how awful it must be for his brother to hear that they might have to kill his recently discovered soulmate. "Denied."

"Dean, this is the only way." Cas protests.

"I don't care, Cas. I'm not losing you again, got that?" Dean drops his hands from Cas' shoulder and looks at the other two. "We're summoning Death the other way and then we're just gonna talk to him. No need for killing anyone, alright? No ones gonna die. No one." Dean says this mostly for his own benefit, but it's been made known just how much he's not okay with his friends dying.

"Alright, Dean. So we'll summon, but no binding. Death isn't into bondage." Gabriel vanishes for a few moments.

"That's a gross thought…" Sam suppresses a shudder.

Gabriel returns and starts the spell. "Alright, well, if he kills you, not my division." All three men give Gabriel a confused look. "Never mind." He finishes the spell with a mini explosion.

"Dean, I don't like having my time wasted with summonings." Death stands in the middle of the room, looking wary. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Uhm…" Dean tries to get his thoughts straight. But before he can speak, Death raises a hand.

"No, don't tell me. Let me take a guess." Death takes slow, menacing steps towards the table and reaches his hand into a bowl of popcorn. "You've been jumping realities, and you want to know if I can get God for you to fix it. Am I right?" Dean nods wordlessly. "Well, have no fear, Dean. You're done."

A million thoughts race through Dean's mind at that small phrase. Done. Death is going to kill him. Death by Death. Oh great. He's going to die in a place he finally managed to call home. He's going to die. Again. By a guy in a dark suit eating popcorn. Lovely.

"No, Dean. I'm not going to kill you." Death looks as though he wants to roll his eyes. But he doesn't. "I mean, you're done. You aren't going jump realities again. And you didn't need to summon me for this." He turns his gaze on the other men in the room. "Last time we met, Castiel, you had proclaimed yourself to be God. Humbled now?"

Cas drops his eyes to floor. Their last meeting had not gone well.

"Hey, you leave him out of it." Dean raises his voice.

"Dean." For once, Gabriel's voice is commanding and lacking in sarcasm. They meet eyes and the unspoken '_Shut up_' is well-heard.

"Gabriel, how nice of you to show up again. Or should I say, Loki? How was that? Running from home?"

"Surprisingly relaxing." Gabriel is keeping his usual level of calm towards Death. Which is a quite the shift from what he had just been showing Dean.

"Good. Now, boys. I trust that you'll never try to summon me again. Dean." Death turns his full attention to his favourite hunter. "This is the last house call I'll let you drag me to. And if you try it again, I will kill you."

Dean swallows and nods. Death vanishes, leaving the four men just standing there.

"Well...I think that went way better than I think it could have." Sam plops himself down in a chair, letting out a breath of sweet relief.

"God, you're such a pessimist."

"I think you mean 'optimist', brother." Castiel places a hand on Dean's shoulder and pulls him into a sideways hug.

"More like realist." Gabriel retorts.

"Can we stop with all the '-ists' and just…" Dean relaxes against Cas and sighs. "Go get pie or something?" For a bit while Death was there, he had truly thought that Death was just going to kill him. Good thing that didn't happen. The number of times that Dean has died and come back shouldn't even be allowed.

Dean looks over at Cas and he can see that same relief reflected in his ex-Angel's eyes. Maybe this isn't going to be so bad. This...Cas being an Angel. Gabriel being a kind of brother-in-law.

"We can go do anything now that you aren't just going to disappear into time again." Sam smiles.

Yes, this is definitely normal...definitely a good thing. They could figure out the Heaven problem later. Now it's all about pie and enjoying these different circumstances.

_A/N: I think the reason that this chapter has taken me so long to write is because...I knew it was going to be the end. I wasn't consciously aware that it was going to be the end….Abrupt, I know. I'm fully aware. I just…don't know where else to take it. I'll post a chapter or two just for the sake of smut. Think of it as an apology. But, for the most part, this is complete. And the more I think about it...it kind of makes me really sad to see this finished. I had expected so much more. I just want to thank each and every one of you for your patience, reviews, and general support for this story. I'm writing something that is infinitely less angsty called _Evening Satirist_ if you'd like to check it out. It's all about night time shenanigans. Okay, my beautiful, beautiful readers, listeners, and tasters. Thank you. Really, thank you so very, very much. With love and so on, Pyxie_


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